Conference Agenda

Traditional sectoral income measures such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Net National Product (NNP) typically omit the depreciation of natural capital, which may distort signals of sectoral performance and lead to misguided policy decisions, particularly in resource-dependent economies. In response, the literature has proposed wealth as a more appropriate indicator for assessing sustainability over time. This study corrects GDP and NNP for the Peruvian marine extractive fishery by incorporating natural capital depreciation and estimating sectoral wealth. This issue is especially relevant for Peru, which ranked third worldwide in marine species landings in 2022 and whose fishing sector represents the fourth-largest source of foreign exchange after mining, agriculture, and hydrocarbons. Using data for the period 1995–2022, the results show that traditional and green income measures, sectoral wealth, and per capita wealth exhibit upward trends. Importantly, this evolution is accompanied by a broadly stable pattern of anchoveta biomass, the dominant species in national landings. Taken together, these findings are consistent with the potential sustainability of the extractive fishery sector over the study period. This outcome appears to be associated with precautionary management practices, regulatory improvements—particularly the implementation of individual transferable quotas—and gains in economic efficiency. Overall, the Peruvian case provides evidence that, under specific institutional and management conditions, a large-scale marine fishery can combine income growth, wealth accumulation, and biomass maintenance.