Six large industrial fishing companies have been fined for the catching a total of 1,901 metric tons of juvenile anchovies this year.
The companies sanctioned include: Tasa, Copeinca, CFG Investment, Hayduk, Austral Group and Diamante, reports Gestion.
Yet the government's announcement does not paint the full picture of Peru's juvenile catch problem, Copeinca CEO Pablo Trapunsky.
He says the fine is not a big deal.
"You get the fine, you pay the fine, that's it," Trapunsky told IntraFish.
But the government's handling of the juvenile catch issue is a big problem and what he calls an "imperative issue" that must be dealt with through better regulations, not repeated fines any time a company's catch contains 10 percent or more of juveniles.
"It's really difficult to tell whether the fish will be big enough to qualify as an adult or small enough to qualify as a juvenile," Trapunsky said.
