Peru: A Case Study in the Establishment of a Food Fish Industry for a Developing Country

Abstract

Based on Peruvian experience, the author describes the progress made over the past two years in establishing the food fish industry. Reference is made to the initial approach of the Government in setting up a separate Ministry of Fisheries while consideration is given to the influential and paradoxical situation of the Peruvian anchoveta industry. The role and the relation of the Government and the private sector are examined. The approach to various aspects of the food fish industry is commented on as the progress in developing the catching effort, the infrastructure, the training activities, the fish inspection service, the processing facilities, the commercial system, and the consumer education program is analyzed. Methods of funding, function of the multilateral and bilateral agencies, policy toward fishing cooperatives and artisanal fishermen, and place of the foreign factory trawler, are examined. Future opportunities are briefly discussed. An attempt is made to illustrate the necessities, problems, possible approaches, and opportunities of the food fish industry in a developing country.