About Peru’s Marine Ecosystems: Achieving Integrated Management
Peru is the world’s fourth largest fish-producing country. Its territory – totaling 600,000 km2 – provides approximately US$ 8175 million in goods and services. The coastal population therefore depends largely on fishing activity, with more than 44,000 artisanal fisherfolk who depend on these resources. However, the vulnerability of coastal marine ecosystems continues to increase.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is working closely with the Government of Peru to improve ocean management and sustain livelihoods at local, national and regional levels through effective ocean governance and supporting ecosystem-based management approaches to fisheries and other resource management in Peru’s marine ecosystems, contributing to National Determinate Contributions.
Humboldt Current Large Marine Ecosystems (LME) Project
The Humboldt Current is one of the world’s most productive LMEs, representing approximately 6% of the global fish catch in 2015 (an El Niño year) and generating goods and services of approximately US$20 billion annually. In 2015, total annual landings in Chile and Peru were approximately 5.8 million tonnes, of which about 70% were harvested in Peruvian waters. Since 2012, Chile and Peru have been assisted by UNDP and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to achieve sustainable ecosystem management of the LME.
Through the Humboldt Project, Chile and Peru signed the Humboldt Current LME Strategic Action Plan (SAP), which promotes a multi-sectoral approach to the area’s management. Its implementation will help deliver key Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to marine conservation, food security, poverty reduction, gender equality, biodiversity protection, good governance, sustainable production and consumption.
The initiative has also promoted the ecosystem-based management approach to fisheries management and has brought Chilean and Peruvian scientists together to work towards standardized stock assessment methodologies and a coordinated approach to the straddling stock management. UNDP is currently working with the Peruvian and Chile Governments to implement the SAP under the Project Preparation Grant approved by GEF in 2016.
Coastal Fisheries Initiative (CFI) in the Southeastern Pacific Ocean
Peru and Ecuador both share the rich biodiversity and fishery resources of the transition zone between the Humboldt Current LME and the Central American Pacific. CIF is coordinating work between both countries’ fishing and environmental authorities. The area includes important fisheries, which have had an uncontrolled expansion driven mainly by an increase in market demand, free access policies, lack of regulation, surveillance and sanctions. The CFI-Latin America Project will focus on strengthening fisheries governance, especially in artisanal and small-scale fisheries and marine-coastal areas and creating synergies between fisheries and marine protected areas, helping to demonstrate holistic management and an ecosystem-based approach to improve the governance of coastal fisheries in the Southeast Pacific.
