Empty nets in Latin America as fish flee El Nino
asserted
fish → flee → Nino
Fishermen along Latin America’s Pacific coast are reeling in half-empty nets as ocean warming aggravated by El Nino causes tuna, anchovies and other top catches to migrate to cooler waters.
asserted
tuna → reel → waters
From Ecuador and Peru in South America, to Panama and Guatemala in Central America, some skippers have stopped going out all together as fish stocks dwindle close to shore in seas running at up to 6 deg C above normal.
“The water is warm,” Juan Ollague, 56, told AFP in the south-western Ecuadoran port of Santa Rosa, where hundreds of idle fishing boats are crammed into a small port.
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hundreds → stop → port
After a night on the water, Ollague returns with just six small tuna.
“We came away empty-handed,” he lamented.
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he → return → tuna
“Fishing used to be good, now it’s terrible,” fellow skipper Darwin Zambrano, 53, complained as he untangled a net that has not scooped up big tuna like albacore or bonito in weeks.
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that → use → weeks
El Nino is the warming phase of a natural cycle in the tropical Pacific that causes hotter and drier conditions in some places, and cooler and wetter in others.
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that → warm → others
The 2026 “super” El Nino, which is expected to peak later in the year, is already wreaking havoc in Central America, where drought is endangering animals and stunting crops.
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drought → expect → crops
The average sea surface temperature, excluding polar regions, reached 21.07 deg C in August, tying with March 2024 as the hottest on record, according to the European Union’s Copernicus climate change observatory.
uncertain
temperature → exclude → observatory
The average sea temperatures off Ecuador’s coast rose by 2.5 deg C to 3 deg C at the surface and up to 6 deg C at a depth of 40m in the past 10 weeks, said oceanographer Jonathan Cedeno, who led a mission from Guayaquil’s Polytechnic University to measure the temperatures.
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who → rise → temperatures
On Panama’s Pacific coast, Rigoberto Gonzalez said he has to sail farther and farther from shore to earn a living.
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he → say → living
This means spending more on fuel, food and ice to preserve the fish on the small boat he uses to catch snapper, kingfish and barracuda.
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he → mean → snapper
“We go out with US$100 (S$128) worth of gas, and when we come back, we earn US$150 from selling the fish, which has to be divided among four workers”, Gonzalez, 59, told AFP, on Veracruz beach.
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Gonzalez → go → beach
In nearby Panama City, some fishermen have thrown in the towel and decided to remain in port.
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fishermen → throw → port
“We can’t keep losing money,” Jesus Morales, leader of the artisanal fishermen’s union of Panama, said.
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Morales → keep → Panama
Farther north, in Iztapa, Guatemala, 50-year-old Eliseo Ovando said it now takes three days to catch what he used to pull from the water in a day, and complains that only commercial fisheries receive government assistance to ride out the shortages.
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fisheries → say → shortages
“The big fish eat the little ones,” he said, referring to the struggles of small-scale operators like himself.
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he → eat → himself
In Peru, the world’s biggest catcher of anchovies, fishermen are turning to construction to feed their families as their tiny prey slips out of reach.
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prey → turn → reach
Economic ripple effect
In Panama City, the poor catches are visible at a wholesale fish market next to the dock that supplies the city’s supermarkets.
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that → supply → supermarkets
“Less is arriving” off the boats, said Carlos Nieto, a 46-year-old vendor.
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Nieto → arrive → boats
And sometimes the catch is “damaged by the heat”, he said.
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he → damage → heat
Nieto now spends about US$600 a month on ice, “practically a whole salary”.
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Nieto → spend → ice
For now, vendors in Panama have not passed on their higher costs and reduced income to consumers in the form of significantly higher prices.
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vendors → pass → prices
But in Ecuador, the world’s second-largest tuna producer after Thailand, the prices of mahi-mahi (also known as dorado) and swordfish have doubled due to the shortage, according to the industry.
uncertain
prices → know → industry
In Santa Rosa, the sea’s dwindling bounty has a knock-on effect, leading to the temporary closure of food stalls along the port.
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bounty → dwindle → port
Francisco Orlando, who earns a living filleting fish, is worried that he could soon be out of a job.
uncertain
he → earn → job
“We’re hoping they (fishermen) catch fish,” the 37-year-old said as he sharpened his filleting knives.
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he → hop → knives
“If they do, we work.
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we → do → ?
If they don’t, we don’t.”
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we → do → ?
The Aporia
