Peru Triples Aquaculture Output over Five Years

Peruvian aquaculture production grew 300 per cent over the last five years, and the value of sector exports reached US$103 million in 2008, revealed the Ministry of Production (Produce).

FIS reports that Fisheries Vice-minister, Elsa Galarza, said: "We only had 10,000 tonnes of annual production in 2003, but there has been a substantial increase, and we are topping 40,000 tonnes. Nevertheless, this sector's potential is still far beyond these amounts."

Ms Galarza assured that aquaculture offers interesting opportunities for investment, which is why she estimates that its development will accelerate in the short term.

In addition, she emphasised that the country possesses a diversity of environments for the establishment of coastal, mountain range and forest production centres, as well as a variety of species potentially apt for development, Andina reports.

Some of the more important farmed species are the prawn, scallop, trout and paiche.

"We have many other native aquaculture species that grow in the flat sea itself, and which we are already investigating to determine their viability for production," the minister added.

The main international markets for national aquaculture products are the United States, Europe and Asia, where a high consumption of this type of resources is registered, she said.

According to the Peru Exporters Association (ADEX), aquaculture sector sales overseas added up to US$54.52 million in the first half of 2009 thanks to the increasing worldwide demand of marine products.

The main commercialised aquaculture products in this period were prawns, with sales of US$35.11 million; scallops, with US$16.93 million; and trout, with US$2.47 million.

Other exported aquaculture resources were paiche (also called arapaima; Arapaima gigas), with shipments worth US$26,396; and tilapia, with US$20,137, according to FIS.