Peruvian anchoveta
| Peruvian anchoveta | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Clupeiformes |
| Family: | Engraulidae |
| Genus: | Engraulis |
| Species: | E. ringens |
| Binomial name | |
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Engraulis ringens Jenyns, 1842 |
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The Peruvian anchoveta (Engraulis ringens) is a species of fish of the anchovy family, Engraulidae. It has yielded greater catches than any other single wild fish species in the world, with annual harvests varying between 4.2 to 8.3 million tonnes in 2008–2012. Almost all of the production is used for the fishmeal industry. The Peruvian anchoveta may be the world's most abundant fish species.
Anchoveta are pelagic fish found in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, and are regularly caught off the coasts of Peru and Chile. They live for up to 3 years, reaching 20 cm. They first reproduce at about one year age and 10 cm length, whereas they are harvested as early as six months of age and 8 cm length. It was previously thought that anchoveta ate mostly phytoplankton, small zooplankton, and larvae. However, recent work has shown that anchoveta get most of their energy from larger zooplankton, including macrozooplankton (Espinoza & Bertrand 2008, Espinoza et al. 2009). Krill and large copepods are the most important dietary components.
The anchoveta has been characterised as "the most heavily exploited fish in world history". The top yield was 13.1 million tonnes in 1971, but has undergone great fluctuations over time. After a period of plenty in the late 1960s, the population was greatly reduced by overfishing and the 1972 El Niño event, when warm water drifted over the cold Humboldt Current and lowered the depth of the thermocline. Nutrient rich waters were then no longer upwelled and phytoplankton production decreased, leaving the anchoveta with a depleted food source. A drastic reduction was also brought about by another strong El Niño in the early 1980s, but production was back up to 12.5 Mt in 1994. Along with the El Niño of 1982–1983, the 1997–1998 El Niño, the strongest on record, caused a loss in population of the anchoveta, negatively impacting fisheries, and, therefore, the economy. In 2008–2012, the annual catches varied between 4.2 to 8.3 million tonnes, which is consistently more than for any other fish species harvested in the wild. In October 2015, an El Niño year, of 3.38 million metric tons of anchoveta surveyed by The Peruvian Marine Research Institute, only 2 million metric tons were of reproductive age; 5 million metric tons are needed to open fisheries. The fishing industry claimed populations were more around 6.8 million metric tons of reproductive age anchoveta, so, despite discrepancies, the Ministry of Production allowed the opening of anchoveta fisheries the second season, but with a quota: 1.1 million metric tons, about half the quota of the first season of the year.
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