El Niño is already wreaking havoc on Pacific fisheries

We’re not even A month after a “super” El Niño, the normal weather pattern in the Pacific Ocean is characterized by warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures, and fisheries around the world are already faltering.

In Peru, government officials have effectively canceled the fishing season for anchovies, one of the country’s most important exports and a major source of fish oil and animal feed globally. The Indian government is preparing for a smaller and less abundant Indian mackerel season. Meanwhile, in Southern California, recreational and commercial fishermen reported some of the most successful tuna fishing months they have ever seen.

The contrasting situations show how El Niño can create winners and losers in the fishing industry, eliminating some species while making others easier to catch. For fishermen, the result is instability, with many forced to consider seasonal diversification. Consumers can expect fluctuations in the prices of major fishery products.

“People are worried,” said Juan Carlos Suero, an economist and fisheries director at the non-profit Oceana Peru. As climate change is expected to produce more frequent and stronger El Niños, “our vulnerability is increasing.”

El Niño is a climate phenomenon that occurs every two to seven years in the tropical Pacific Ocean. It was named by Peruvian fishermen who hundreds of years ago noticed periodic fluctuations in their catch, with huge declines occurring every few years around Christmas. They called it “El Niño” after the baby Jesus.

Their varying effects on different fisheries are due to the way they move around ocean waters.

Under normal conditions, trade winds blowing westward along the equator move warm water from South America toward Asia. This causes cold, nutrient-rich water to rise from the depths, a process known as “bottom upwelling” that encourages the growth of tiny algae near the ocean’s surface. But during El Niño, weak trade winds slow or even stop this buildup. The decline in algae at the surface means that species that depend on them, such as anchovies, are forced to forage for larvae in deeper waters. This not only makes the fish more difficult to catch, but can also put pressure on their numbers.

At the same time, ocean dynamics can enhance other fisheries. El Niño often sees warm-water species, such as skipjack tuna, move towards coastal waters in the Americas, where temperatures are usually too cold for them. Closer to the shore, catching these species becomes easier.

Both of these dynamics affect Peru, where El Niño has devastated the country in the past Anchovies The fishery – the largest single fishery in the world – has increased the availability of shrimp, scallops, dolphin fish, and tuna. This spring and summer, coastal El Niño conditions have stressed the country’s anchovies, prompting the government to issue an indefinite ban on fishing for them during the April-July season so that their numbers do not decline further. Ships equipped with sonar technology were locating anchovies more than 100 meters below sea level, said Humberto Speziani, a Peruvian industrial fishing consultant and former director of the International Marine Organisation. Even if commercial fishermen were trying to catch anchovies, they probably wouldn’t have been able to – that’s twice the depth that can be reached using regular fishing nets.

Seafood prices are also subject to change, due to the effects of moderate El Niño events outside the Pacific Ocean. For example, wild salmon can become very thin due to lack of food during El Niño, giving them the name “snakes.” Their decline in North American coastal waters could lead to higher prices for ex-vessels – received by fishermen at the pier – which are then passed on to retail and restaurant customers. In local markets in Peru, prices of mackerel and corvina have reportedly already doubled, prompting families to buy more chicken instead. The opposite may happen with species such as shrimp, whose numbers have boomed during the past El Niño phenomenon, Suero said.