The Peruvian calico scallop (Argopecten purpuratus) is distributed from Paita (Peru) to Valparaiso (Chile) (Dames and Moore 1995)(Avendaño et al. 2022)(Acosta-Jofré et al. 2020). The largest and most productive population until the late 80s was the one at Independencia Bay. Later, since the early 90s Sechura Bay and Lobos de Tierra islands’ populations gained more importance (Wolff and Mendo 2000)(Mendo et al. 2008)(Mendo et al. 2016). Other important natural beds along the Peruvian coast are Sechura, Samanco, and Tortugas Bays (Marín et al. 2013)(Wolff and Mendo 2000). Recent studies revealed that there are high levels of genetic diversity with no genetic structure (Marín et al. 2013)(Acosta-Jofré et al. 2020). The capacity to detect different populations might be hindered since seed translocations favour genetic homogenization along the Peruvian coast (PRODUCE 2021).

Assessments are conducted sporadically in the most important natural beds along the Peruvian coast such as Sechura Bay (IMARPE 2017), Lobos de Tierra Island (IMARPE 2021)(De La Cruz et al. 2022), Samanco Bay (IMARPE 2021), Callao Bay (IMARPE 2021) and Independencia Bay (IMARPE 2021). An assessment of all the most important natural beds has not been performed since 2007 (IMARPE 2008). Therefore, the structure of this profile was dedicated to one of these beds, the one with more recent assessments and active fishery, Lobos de Tierra Island.

The fishery initially targeted three components of the population: spats (< 10 mm shell height [SH]), seeds (10-30 mm SH), and adults (> 65 mm SH); however, these are all currently prohibited with certain exceptions by which wild captures are used as input for aquaculture farms (PRODUCE 2023). Spats are extracted using artificial collector bags, while seeds and adults are captured while diving (mostly hookah) (Mendo et al. 2016)(Flores-Valiente et al. 2019).