Understanding artisanal fishing in Peru: 4 keys of this vital activity
- By Josefina Del Prado
- Published
How transparency is illuminating one of the country’s most essential — and complex — coastal economies
Across Peru’s long Pacific coastline, artisanal fisheries form the lifeblood of hundreds of coastal communities. From the docks of Paita to the coves of Ica, thousands of families depend on the ocean for income, culture and sustenance. These fishers supply fish for domestic consumption, support exports of valuable species such as jumbo squid and mahi-mahi, and contribute approximately 15 percent of the nation’s fish landings.
As Peru is committed to strengthening transparency and developing a digitally monitored fisheries sector, understanding the structure, regulation and challenges of artisanal fishing becomes essential to achieving both environmental sustainability and social equity.
1 — Activity and actors: A sea of livelihoods
In Peru, tens of thousands of artisanal fishers head to sea each morning, relying on generations of inherited knowledge and the ocean’s pulse. According to the Fourth Structural Survey of Artisanal Fishing (ENEPA IV), published in September 2025, the country counts more than 77,000 artisanal fishers and 23,000 registered vessels, marking a growth of nearly 30 percent compared with the previous survey in 2015. Piura, in the north, hosts the largest share of the fleet (31.7 percent), followed by Lima-Callao (18 percent).
Artisanal fishing targets over 300 species, mostly for direct human consumption. The sector’s diversity is reflected in its gears: curtain nets, jigging lines, longlines, hooks and compressor diving, revealing the ingenuity of fishers adapting to changing seas.
2 — Biology and fleets: From squid to mahi-mahi
The jumbo squid, locally known as pota, is Peru’s most valuable artisanal fishery and a pillar of coastal employment. Between January and October 2023 alone, artisanal landings reached 1.05 million metric tons, a 30 percent jump from the previous year, largely due to booming jumbo squid catches.
Crews in small wooden vessels—rarely exceeding 15 meters—spend days at sea using hand-jigging gear illuminated by bright lamps at night. Mahi-mahi is equally significant during its seasonal migrations, connecting artisanal fleets to export markets.
Recent legislation has clarified fleet categories. Under Supreme Decree 02-2025-PRODUCE, Peruvian fishing is defined as:
- Artisanal, predominantly manual, with vessels ≤ 32.6 m³ capacity and ≤ 15 m in length;
- Small-scale, using mechanized hauling systems;
- Industrial, exceeding 32.6 m³.
This legal distinction acknowledges the predominance of manual labor while reaffirming the exclusive rights of small-scale fishers within Peru’s first five nautical miles, and within the three nearest nautical miles, which are reserved exclusively for non-mechanized vessels.
3 — Control and compliance: The long road to formalization
Efforts to formalize Peru’s artisanal fishing sector have been underway for more than a decade. Legislative Decree 1392, enacted in 2018, established a process for vessels between 6.48 and 32.6 m³ of hold capacity to enhance traceability and strengthen the sustainable management of fisheries resources. Progress, however, has been slow. By 2025, fewer than 60 percent of eligible vessels had completed the formalization requirements, hindered by administrative bottlenecks and economic challenges. As a result, new deadlines for installing VMS devices were extended throughout 2026, with timelines varying according to vessel capacity.
To curb unchecked growth, Law 31982 (2024) criminalized the illegal construction or modification of fishing vessels. Nonetheless, enforcement remains a challenge, and unregistered boats continue to expand the fleet despite long-standing bans.
4 — Data and transparency: Seeing the invisible fleet
Transparency offers a bridge between regulation and reality. The push for transparency took a major step in 2018, when Peru became the first country in Latin America to publicly share vessel-monitoring data through the Global Fishing Watch map, making the movements of more than 1,800 vessels visible to the world.
This partnership with PRODUCE represents a major step toward open ocean governance. It has also supported oversight of fishing by foreign squid fleets, a recurring concern for all Peruvian fishers.
For small-scale and artisanal fisheries, transparency can deliver tangible benefits:
- Recognition — making fishers visible in national statistics and policy.
- Safety — supporting rescue operations in cases of vessels getting lost, mechanical issues, difficult weather conditions, etc.
- Accountability — reducing illegal or unfair competition.
- Empowerment — enabling communities to access markets, credit and traceability systems.
- Participation — turning data into a shared resource rather than a top-down instrument of control.
Joan Ramos, a Peruvian artisanal giant squid fisher, made history as the first small-scale vessel owner registered with the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO)—gaining the right to fish legally on the high seas. Now, he’s a strong advocate for fishing transparency, encouraging others to follow his lead. By embracing transparency, fishers can unlock new business opportunities, ensure compliance, and contribute to more sustainable fisheries.
But transparency is only meaningful if it works in both directions. For fishers to embrace tracking and reporting, information must be shared in return in forms they can understand and use to improve their livelihoods.
Today, roughly 53 percent of 3,400 formalized vessels are already equipped with VMS transponders. New regulations have expanded the list of approved satellite providers and recently introduced a Type D device specifically tailored to artisanal vessels, thereby lowering costs and technical barriers.
As Peru deepens its commitment to transparency and sustainability, equity is at the heart of its fisheries sector. Visibility alone does not guarantee fairness — and the success of new regulations depends on how well they integrate the voices and needs of artisanal fishers.
For Global Fishing Watch, the path forward lies in supporting governments and communities alike: using open data to manage and monitor fishing zones, track foreign fleets and build local capacity so that every vessel—large or small—can be part of a transparent, sustainable ocean future.
