Peruvian Seafood More Valuable for Human Consumption than Fishmeal

Patricia Majluf Cayetano Heredia University

Human consumption of seafood in Peru generates more than twice the domestic revenue and four times as many jobs as the production of fishmeal and fish oil, according to a new study published in the journal of Marine Policy.

Peruvian anchovy supplies one-third of the world's fishmeal and is the largest single-species fishery in the world. While fishing in Peru is often associated with industrial-scale capture of anchovies, seafood—not just anchovies but other species such as bonito and tuna- is also vitally important. In the first study of its kind, Cayetano Heredia University researcher Patricia Majluf, along with researchers from the University of British Columbia, compare the economics of human consumption with those of fishmeal and fish oil.