Bahia De Sechura Scallops
Projected End Date: 12/31/2022
Concluding statements:
EcoWB provided technical guidance to better inform stakeholders on avenues for improving environmental and social outcomes of scallop sea ranching and farming in the Bay of Sechura. We worked with our partners to teach about the need for greater integration of sustainability principles in scallop farming, identifying ways industry leaders could steer production closer to compliance with the Marine Sustainability Council (MSC) standard. Over the course of this project, we completed an MSC Pre-Evaluation for the Bay thanks to funding from the Resource Legacy Fund Sustainable Fisheries Fund (RLF-SFF), and consulted with dozens of Peruvian experts, to summarize our findings and recommendations from the MSC Pre-Evaluation and subsequent supply chain analysis. This project was impacted by COVID-19, which caused us to suspend most activities in 2020, evacuating our project manager from the country in June 2020. EcoWB delivered its final conclusions and reports remotely in early 2021 and remained engaged with stakeholders till late 2022. Trevor Eakes returned to Peru in April 2022 to visit with stakeholders, deliver updates on our findings, and scope possibilities for continuing the project. We also conducted outreach to U.S. buyers of Sechura scallops on behalf of sustainable grower associations.
Following developments that occurred during COVID 19, cooperatives of scallop farmers are beginning to adopt the Aquaculture Sustainability Council (ASC) certification, which aligns with the MSC certification, but is suited for purely aquaculture methods rather than sea ranching, a practice which is becoming the norm. With good prospectives Sechura Bay will continue to move in the direction of ASC we decided to close the project.
Over the course of the project, we observed several key risk factors beyond the scope of our work which are crucial issues hindering sustainable, socially responsible conditions. These included poor diver safety, lack of benthic biological surveying and monitoring in the bay, and lack of differentiation of Sechura product from the rest of the country. Hookah diver safety remains a serious concern throughout Peru, where lack of training and poor equipment poses a risk to diver safety and pulmonary health. These issues were highlighted in the Pre-Evaluation and subsequent 2022 Site Visit Report.
For more information, including to request the Sechura Bay Scallop MSC Pre-Evaluation and 2022 Site Report, contact trevor.eakes@ecowb.org.
Background:
Peruvian Calico Scallops (Argopecten purpuratus), known in South America as concha de abanico (CdA), have a sweet and lightly nutty flavor profile, with vibrant orange-yellow roe (or coral). Peru is one of the major producers of scallops in the world and Sechura Bay in the province of Piura is the largest producing CdA mariculture zone in Perú, generally accounting for at least 60% percent of national scallop production. Located on Peru's Northwest Pacific coast, the bay is highly productive due to nutrient-rich coastal upwelling, huge banks of shallow, ideal scallop habitat, and warm waters.
Sechura is historically a fishing region, heavily dependent on the sea for subsistence and livelihoods. Scallop sea ranching is a unique activity that mixes aquaculture techniques with wild capture of larvae called spat that are replanted in managed grow-out areas. Producing between 10 and 40 thousand tons of landings annually, Scallop farming in Sechura has become a crucial industry, with over 200 small aquaculture businesses and thousands of divers and processing plant workers dedicated to the harvest. Producers are represented by the Consejo de Maricultores de la Bahía de Sechura (CMBS), an elected eight-member council formed in 2016 by the government to support artisanal mariculture in the region.
With the rise of this industry came new environmental and social challenges. Natural weather patterns linked to the El Niño phenomenon can cause mass mortality events due to temperature increase and freshwater discharge, as well as big swings in natural scallop productivity. There is also a legal mandate to establish a carrying capacity and better density limits in the grow-out areas to limit negative environmental effects. The health of the Sechura Bay on which both maricultorists and fishers depend, remains unclear.
In the past several years the industry has modernized by improving sanitary conditions, traceability, and monitoring for contaminants. There is strong interest from producers and regulators to continue this trend by developing harvest limits and better environmental monitoring practices. EcoWB has supported local stakeholders by identifying major obstacles for eco-certification, highlighting gaps and weaknesses in the farming of Peruvian Bay Scallop in Sechura against the Marine Sustainability Council (MSC) standard for fisheries sustainability. We continue to consult with local stakeholders on paths to further ecological research in the bay and promote projects leading to better economic, social and environmental outcomes.
PROJECT ACTIVITES:
Summary: EcoWB received funding from the Resource Legacy Fund Sustainable Fisheries Fund to complete an MSC Pre-Evaluation on behalf of the clients and stakeholders in the region. Much of this work had begun in late 2019 with great support from CITEpesquero Piura and Peace Corps Peru. EcoWB began collecting data and building support for a FIP program from February to March until the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic, after which events and in-person events were indefinitely postponed. The project continued remotely from within country until worsening conditions ultimately lead to EcoWB support for the evacuation of the on-site project manager from the country in June and temporary suspension of the project.
Work on the MSC Pre-Evaluation resumed and was completed in late 2020 with much volunteer support. This work was also expanded to include an analysis of the CdA value chain in Piura. Results were presented remotely in January and February of 2021, at which point the first phase, conducting an MSC Pre Assessment and building support for a fisheries improvement project, was concluded. With the pandemic waning and prices for CdA recovered by late 2021, EcoWB decided to conduct a site visit to the region to reevaluate the possibility of addressing gaps identified in the MSC Pre-Evaluation and to personally deliver results from our studies to new leaders in the organizations of our partners. We completed this visit in March 2022.
Completed 2020-2021:
o Scoping trip to Piura, Peru
o Rapid MSC pre-assessment for CITEpesquero Piura and the Peace Corps Response Peru
o Participation in 2nd Latin American FIP Community of Practice Workshop (September 2019)
o Stakeholder outreach and presentations on relevance of eco-certifications for CdA
o Pursue local funding for a Fishery Improvement Project (FIP)
o MSC pre-evaluation for the clients
o Supply chain analysis for the clients
o Present results of the supply chain analysis and MSC pre-evaluation to the stakeholders
o Conduct a follow up site visit in 2022
o Outreach to U.S. based buyers
·PARTNERS
o Local scallop fishermen and engineers
o Centro de Innovación Productiva y Transferencia Tecnológica pesquero Piura (CITEpesquero Piura)
o Consejo de Maricultores de la Bahia de Sechura
