One of the world’s richest fisheries sits off the coast of Peru. For centuries, fishing has been a major source of life for people in the area. But in recent years, their livelihoods have been at risk because of the decrease in fish caused by climate change, especially El Niño.
60 year old Arsedio is one of 300 fishermen who live at Chorrillos port. Arsedio has been a fisherman for over 40 years.
“we work almost 11 hours on the sea from 4 a.m. to 3.p.m. every day. we used to earn 60-80 sol a day, but now, we can only make 30-40 sol a day. It’s barely enough to make ends meet,” he said.
Fishmeal and fish oil made of anchovy led to the rapid development of the fishing sector in Peru in the 1950s. But since the 1980s, the number of anchovies has been significantly reduced because of the El Niño phenomenon. South American fishermen call the phenomenon El Niño, Spanish for “the Boy Child,” because the phenomenon occurs about the time of the celebration of the birth of the Christ Child. During an El Niño, the physical relationships between winds, ocean currents, and temperatures dissolve into destructive patterns.
“The coast of Peru has had abnormally high temperature since April this year, and now it is 2-3 degree centigrade higher than usual. The high temperature is especially obvious in the Northern Peru. Many kinds of fishes have to swim to other waters or die because of the change. But, on the other hand, some new species have moved in,” said Gustavo Laos, expert of Peruvian National Marine Research Center.
Because of the limitation of tools and skills, local fishermen can only catch several species. In this case, the new species don’t mean new opportunities. On the contrary, they will damage the original marine ecology.
“It’s hopeless for fishermen. There are so little fish in the nearby waters. For the old generation like me, we could barely make the ends meet. But for the young generation, it’s almost impossible,” Arsedio said.
2014’s El Nino saw Peruvian anchovy landings dive 41% to 3.5 million tons year on year. Forecasts indicate the country will face another strong El Niño this month and the fisheries will face a difficult challenge.
2014 Xinhua, english.news.cn