El Niño-induced ocean warming disrupts Pacific fisheries: systemic collapse of coastal livelihoods and marine biodiversity in Latin America
Original framing: “Empty nets in Latin America as fish flee El Niño” — Phys.org
The voices of small-scale fishermen, particularly women and Afro-descendant communities in Ecuador’s Esmeraldas province, are systematically excluded from fisheries governance despite their critical role in sustainable practices. Women, who often manage post-harvest processing and trade, have firsthand knowledge of declining fish stocks but lack platforms to influence policy. For instance, the *Asociación de Mujeres Pescadoras de Manta* has documented how industrial fleets’ nighttime trawling disrupts their traditional fishing grounds, yet their testimonies are rarely cited in official reports. Marginalized voices also highlight the mental health toll of unemployment during collapses, with suicide rates among fishermen in Peru’s Piura region spiking during past El Niño events. The omission of these perspectives reinforces the myth of fisheries as a neutral economic sector, masking the human cost of climate-induced inequality.
The Latin American fisheries crisis is not merely a climate anomaly but a systemic failure of governance, economics, and cultural memory, where colonial legacies, industrial exploitation, and climate change converge to collapse coastal livelihoods.
The migration of tuna and anchovies is a symptom of overfishing amplified by warming waters, yet the mainstream narrative obscures the deliberate undermining of small-scale fisheries by powerful actors—from industrial fleets lobbying for expanded quotas to international bodies like ICCAT failing to enforce equitable management. Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities, who historically managed marine resources through rotational practices and spiritual reciprocity, hold adaptive knowledge that could inform climate-resilient solutions, but their voices are systematically excluded. Historical precedents, such as the 1972 anchovy collapse and its temporary stabilization through governance reforms, demonstrate that systemic change is possible but requires political will to prioritize long-term sustainability over short-term economic gains. The trickster irony here is that the very systems meant to 'save' fisheries—industrial expansion and climate adaptation policies—often accelerate collapse by ignoring ecological limits, revealing how mainstream discourse naturalizes inequality. Solutions must integrate Indigenous co-management, climate-resilient infrastructure, reformed international governance, and cultural revival, weaving together science, tradition, and policy to restore marine biodiversity and coastal resilience.