According to Diario Financiero, anchoveta has disappeared from commercial catches in northern Chile because of the El Niño phenomenon. Between October 5 and 11 there were no landings in Arica, Iquique or Mejillones, according to the latest report from the Instituto de Fomento Pesquero (IFOP, Chile's fisheries research institute).
Part of that week overlapped with the veda, the closed fishing season, which ended on October 8. But IFOP confirmed there were no catches after it was lifted either, due to "poor fishing conditions".
The problem started earlier. According to IFOP statistics, anchoveta landings in the north had fallen 77.3% as of September 27.
The hardest hit are Corpesca, which has fishmeal and fish oil plants in Arica, Iquique and Mejillones, and Camanchaca, with a plant in Iquique. Both buy all their anchoveta from small-scale fishers, because the resource lies within the first five nautical miles from the coast, which the law reserves for small-scale fishing.
Manuel Guajardo, president of the Asociación de Armadores Pesqueros de Arica (Arica Fishing Vessel Owners Association), explained that out of a quota of about 100,000 tonnes, fishers have caught less than 10%. "We've gone out to fish and nothing, there's nothing", he said of the past two months.
The vessel owners keep paying to maintain their boats with no income. Guajardo warned that if the scarcity continues, "it could drive many of us into bankruptcy".
Héctor Souza, president of the Confederación Artesanales del Norte (Northern Small-Scale Fishers Confederation), described the same situation: fishers searched from Mejillones southward and between Arica and Iquique without finding anchoveta.
The explanation is physical. Rodrigo Zamora, head of sustainability at the Sociedad Nacional de Pesca (Sonapesca, the main industrial fishing trade association), said El Niño raises ocean temperatures by up to 4 degrees Celsius. Anchoveta seek colder water, move deeper and end up out of reach of small-scale fishing nets.
The impact is already showing in company figures. Camanchaca processed about 51,000 tonnes of pelagic resources (open-water fish such as jack mackerel and anchoveta) in Iquique in the first half of 2026, 42% less than a year earlier. At Corpesca, related sources cited by the newspaper say jack mackerel and anchoveta catches fell 60%.
Felipe Sandoval, president of Sonapesca, said companies have lower exports and must adjust their plants. He also asked the Government to review the specific tax they pay on authorized quotas, which is charged whether or not the company catches anything. "It shouldn't apply when there is an abnormal situation", he said.
The Government acknowledged the seriousness of the situation on August 6. In a resolution, the Subsecretaría de Pesca y Acuicultura (Subpesca, the undersecretariat for fisheries and aquaculture) noted a considerable drop in pelagic landings from Arica y Parinacota to Los Ríos, with economic consequences for small-scale fishers and crew members. The report does not detail an official response to the request regarding the tax.
The outlook is not encouraging. The same resolution estimates a probability above 97% that El Niño will persist until early spring 2027, and IFOP detected a delay of at least four weeks in anchoveta reproduction, which could postpone the arrival of new generations in the 2026-2027 season.
