This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Fishermen along Latin America's Pacific coast are reeling in half-empty nets as ocean warming aggravated by El Niño causes tuna, anchovies and other top catches to migrate to cooler waters. From Ecuador and Peru in South America to Panama and Guatemala in Central America, some skippers have stopped going out altogether as fish stocks dwindle close to shore, in seas running at up to 6 degrees Celsius above normal.
"The water is warm," Juan Ollague, 56, told in the southwestern Ecuadorian port of Santa Rosa, where hundreds of idle fishing boats are crammed into a small port. After a night on the water, Ollague returns with just six small tuna. "We came away empty-handed," he lamented.
"Fishing used to be good; now it's terrible," fellow skipper Darwin Zambrano, 53, complained as he untangled a net that hasn't scooped up big tuna like albacore or bonito in weeks. El Niño 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 conditions in others. This year's "super" El Niño, which is expected to peak later this year, is already wreaking havoc in Central America, where drought is endangering animals and stunting crops.
The average sea surface temperature, excluding polar regions, reached 21.07°C (69.9°F) in August, tying with March 2024 as the hottest on record, according to the European Union's Copernicus climate change observatory. The average sea temperatures off Ecuador's coast rose by 2.5–3°C at the surface and up to 6°C at a depth of 40 meters (131 feet) in the past 10 weeks, said oceanographer Jonathan Cedeno, who led a mission from Guayaquil's Polytechnic University to measure the temperatures. On Panama's Pacific coast, Rigoberto Gonzalez said he has to sail farther and farther from shore to earn a living.
This means spending more on food, ice to preserve the fish and fuel for the small boat he uses to catch snapper, kingfish and barracuda. "We go out with $100 worth of gas, and when we come back, we earn $150" from sales of the fish, with the earnings divided among four workers, Gonzalez, 59, told on Veracruz beach. In nearby Panama City, some fishermen have thrown in the towel and decided to remain in port.
"We can't keep losing money," Jesus Morales, leader of the artisanal fishermen's union of Panama, said. 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 complained that only commercial fisheries receive government assistance to ride out the shortages. "The big fish eat the little ones," he said, referring to the struggles of small-scale operators like himself.
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