The Peruvian Giant Squid Chamber (CAPECAL by its name in Spanish) and the National Society of Artisanal Fisheries (SONAPESCAL by its name in Spanish) have submitted to the Peruvian Ministry of Production a draft of a new Fisheries Management Regulation (ROP by its name in Spanish) for the Giant Squid. The goal is to protect this resource from overfishing as this species is permanently chased by asiatic catching vessels; many of them practicing Illegal, unreported, and unregulated activity (IUU), close or inside the Economic Exclusive Zone (EEZ) of Peru.
This project seeks to update the current regulations controlling this important activity, which is crucial for both artisanal fishing activity and the fishing industry for human consumption in the country, with the aim of managing the resource in a sustainable manner.
A recent study by the Instituto del Mar del Peru (IMARPE) has classified the resource as "fully exploited", underlining the urgency of implementing SONAPESCAL and CAPECAL's proposal to strengthen fisheries control and avoid adverse scenarios that could affect the sustainability of the resource.
In relation to this news, it should be noted that on the high seas in front of the Peruvian coast (as we already previously mentioned), there have been recurrent Chinese vessels illegally fishing this species. We hope that when this new regulation is put in force, the peruvian government will pay more attention to these bad practices and stop them.