No large changes in the parameters of the anchoveta population were detected in the fishery and survey data analyzed in studies done before 1972, but because of … Chief of Peru's Institute of the Sea, Jorge Zununaga says the country is doing what is necessary to protect the resource by strongly enforcing annual fishing seasons to protect juvenile and spawning fish. Alaska Fisheries Science Center Processed Report 93-08. But because they did not allow for the possibility of large changes in the behavior of the population, they were of little value when recruitment failed in 1972. While heavy fishing did play a major role in the collapse of the Peruvian anchoveta fishery in the early 1970s (IMARPE, 1974; Zuta, Tsukayama and Villanueva, 1983; Jordán, 1983), it is recognized that the 1972–1973 “El Niño” was also a primary cause of recruitment failure and stock decline (Csirke, 1980). The lack of adequate management action to drastically reduce fishing pressure did the rest, contributing to aggravate and prolong the decline. Science, politics and economics of the Peruvian anchoveta fishery. The industrial anchoveta fishery has experienced multiple periods of rapid growth and subsequent collapse since its development in the 1950s (Paredes and Gutierrez, 2008). Trawl locations of walleye pollock and Atka mackerel fisheries in the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands and Gulf of Alaska from 1977–92. The Peruvian government says it understands that the ebb and flow of El Niño makes the anchovy fishery even more vulnerable to the dangers of over-fishing. Greenberg, P. 2010. Glantz, M. H. 1979. The military government increased control over the fishery through new strategic institutions. Marine Policy3:201–210. PERUVIAN ANCHOVETA FISHERY W. G. CLARK food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Rome, Italy ABSTRACT The outstanding features of the Peru upwelling system are high productivity and great variability. 3. These studies might have been adequate in a less variable fishery, and even in the anchoveta fishery were useful in that they prevented an excessive increase in fishing effort. The lack of an adequate ecosystem management plan creates fluctuations in the anchoveta population. Anchoveta Collapse: 1972 In 1968, the Peruvian military established a military-reformist regime under Velasco (Table 1). The Peruvian anchoveta fishery has been on the verge of collapse. Continuing this way in a year with reduced populations could mean the collapse of the fishery. With respect to the Peruvian fisheries, there is one major physical factor, referred to as El Nino, which has been blamed for the recent near-collapse of the Peruvian anchoveta fishery and the poor state of the Peruvian economy. Driven by the rising demand for fishmeal and fish oil, landings peaked at 12 million metric tons in 1970 and accounted for 20% of global catch. While it is recognized that heavy fishing did play a major role in the collapse of the Peruvian anchoveta fishery in the early 1970s, it is also true that the 1972-73 "El Niño" was a primary cause of recruitment failure and stock decline. It has had to be closed twice: once in the early-1970s and once in the late-1990s.