The Law of Fisheries, Aquaculture and related activities was published in the Official Gazette. The law promotes the training of fishermen and establishes the participation of the sector in decision making.
The new legal framework establishes a National Fisheries Conservation and Administration Plan, creates the National Fisheries Information and Statistics System, eliminates discretionally in fisheries management and promotes good fishing practices.
From January to June 2020, companies from Central American countries exported frozen shrimp and prawns for $60 million, and sales to the United Kingdom grew by 36% compared to the same period in 2019.
Figures from the Trade Intelligence Area of CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption="Click to interact with graphic"]
The Panamanian government has authorized Forever Oceans Panama, S.A. to invest $50 million in a fish farming project in Charco Azul Bay, Puerto Armuelles.
Aquatic Resources Authority (ARAP) administrator Flor Torrijos handed over the resolution authorizing the fish farming operation in an area of more than 58,000 hectares to company representatives, the Presidency reported.
Honduran producers estimate that at the end of 2019 the volume traded abroad will register a reduction of six million pounds compared to what was reported in the previous year.
Directors of the National Association of Aquiculturists of Honduras (Andah), explained that one of the factors that has affected the sector are the low prices that are recorded internationally.
Integral Fruits & Co., a company of Ecuadorian origin, plans to invest in the country close to $6 million in the construction of two aquaculture farms and the production of different types of fruit.
One of the projects that the company will execute will begin in mid-2020 and consists of the construction of a farm with 64 swimming pools dedicated to the cultivation of tilapia, white shrimp, snapper and cod.
A farm dedicated to fish breeding and harvesting is planned in Baru, Panama, consisting of 29 production cages and 10 research cages in the open sea.
Forever Oceans Panama, S.A. presented the Environmental Impact Study (EIA) to develop the project called "Open sea cages and marine fish laboratory", where intensive cultivation of marine fish native to the Gulf of Chiriqui will be carried out.
Nicaragua's fishing and aquaculture production in 2019 will be close to 175 million pounds, 6% less than production in 2018.
In the Production, Consumption and Trade Plan for the 2019-2020 cycle, the government expects a 6.4% year-on-year decline, mainly because of the implementation of management and sustainability measures for sea cucumbers, such as the closure of two additional months for all species and the permanent closure for cucumber, Café y Carajo, explains the document.
In the first two months of the year, shrimp sales from Honduras abroad totaled $35 million, surpassing the $29 million recorded in the same period in 2018.
Figures from Honduran businessmen detail that between the first two months of 2018 and the same period of 2019, the volume exported increased from 9 million pounds to 11 million pounds.
Victor Wilson, president of the National Association of Honduran Aqua culturists, told Elheraldo.hn that "... the export goal of 58.5 million pounds by 2019 is maintained. In 2018, exports totaled $216.5 million."
In Izabal, Guatemala, 178 circular floating cages of 250 square meters each are expected to be built, which will be used to raise fish known as tilapias.
Mir-Yam Proyects, S.A. presented the Environmental Impact Study (EIA) to develop the project dedicated to aquaculture production, which will be located in the municipality of Estor, in Lake Izabal.
In the first nine months of last year, Central American countries exported frozen shrimp and prawns for $321 million, 17% more than in the same period in 2017.
Figures from the Trade Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption="Click to interact with graphic"]
In Guatemala, Rianxeira company expects to have in operation in August, its new plant for transforming fish waste into flour.
The company, which is currently exporting tuna loins and concentrates, reported that the investment in the new production line of the plant in Escuintla, amounts to $2 million and that the raw material to be used will be fish heads, skeletons, bones, bone parts and viscera.
During the first quarter of this year, the National Insurance Institute will begin to offer two new policy modalities aimed at the aquaculture and poultry sectors.
The Executive President of the National Insurance Institute (INS), Elian Villegas Valverde, explained last January 9 that the Poultry Insurance will cover hens for breeding, broiler and laying hens for consumption, while the Aquaculture Insurance, will focus on shrimp, fish and snapper spot.
New requirements that Mexican authorities intend to place on shrimp imports cultivated in Honduras do not indicate, at least in the short term, that there will be an eventual suspension of the blockade.
After the country registered sales for $282 million in 2017, the sector's union expects this year to surpass what was reported in the previous period by 2%.
Explained by the good performance in exports of cultivated shrimp, crab and live lobster, during the first three months of the year, the Nicaraguan Institute of Fisheries and Aquaculture (Inpesca) expects the sector to register an increase compared to 2017.
Between January and March, sales abroad totaled $16 million, which is equivalent to an 86% increase with respect to exports registered in the same period in 2017.
The increase registered during the first months of the year is explained by an increase in the volume sold coupled with an increase in the average price, which rose from $4.1 per kilogram recorded in the first quarter of 2017, to $6 per kg reported in the same 2018 period.