Impact of El Niño events on pelagic fisheries in Peruvian waters

Abstract

Abstract Using data from stock assesment surveys on pelagic resources during El Nino events of 1972/73, 1982/83, 1997/98, we analyze biological changes on pelagic ecosystems and pelagic fisheries during different stages of development of El Nino phenomenon: emergence, full, final and post-Nino. Results indicate changes in spatial distribution of resources, their concentration and size structure. In anchovy (Engraulis ringens) a decrease in biomass was observed, which was estimated at 1.2 million tons in September 1998, the lowest throughout the 1990s. This resource showed an asymmetric distribution towards the south of Peru. Other pelagic resources increased their biomass during or after Nino events, primarily sardine (Sardinops sagax), jack mackerel (Trachurus murphyi), pacific mackerel (Scomber japonicus), and longnose anchovy (Anchoa nasus). At the end of the El Nino phenomenon we found less productivity but more diversity in the pelagic ecosystem. During the 1997/98 El Nino, the diversity index (Manual de Ecologia, 1a Edition, Editorial Trillas, Mexico, 267pp) increased from 0.87 to 1.23–1.70. In both the emergence stage and fully developed stages of El Nino we found large numbers of sardine and longnose anchovy present simultaneously. Size structure of sardine, jack mackerel, and pacific mackerel showed an increase in juveniles. Anchovy during El Nino showed a single modal group composed of adults, but the post-Nino phase indicated an increase in juveniles with an average length of 6–7 cm. In El Nino conditions spawning among anchovy was low, but among sardine and pacific mackerel it was high. We observed, for the first time during full spawning, juvenile sardines with a total length of 18–20 cm. The anchovy spawning season during the post-Nino phase was considerably lengthened, from April to December 1998. Drastic change occurred in fisheries when monospecific fisheries, based on anchovy before El Nino, became multispecific fisheries based on sardine, jack mackerel, pacific mackerel, longnose anchovy and other species typical of tropical and warm oceans. Landings of anchovy decreased substantially, but those of longnose anchovy, jack mackerel, pacific mackerel, and sardine increased.