El Niño (literally translated as 'Male child' which refers to 'Christ child') has a great impact on my second home country Peru and it's fisheries. In fact, one the world's richest fisheries are off the coast of Peru, making the Peruvian economy highly dependent on fisheries. In most years, winds from the southeast push warm surface water away from the coast. In its place, upwelling brings to the surface cold water rich in nutrients. These nutrients provide nourishment for the microscopic plants known as plankton. (1) Plankton provides food for a large community of anchovies and other fish. The fish in turn supply food for many seabirds. Not only is the fish-catch economically vital, but the harvesting of bird droppings supports the fertilizer industry. Without the fertilizer industry, farms don't produce enough crops for the whole Peruvian population. (1) …show more content…
(3) During this phenomenon, upwelling brings up warm water with few nutrients, hence populations of fish and seabirds vanish. As a result, El Niño creates serious devastating economic consequences on the Peruvian anchovy fisheries, fertilizer industries and ordinary Peruvian fishermen. (1) The appearance of warm water also creates increased rainfall across the east-central and eastern Pacific Ocean, including several portions of the South American west coast. This is because the warm ocean surface warms the atmosphere, which allows moisture-rich air to rise and develop into rainstorms. El Niño causes warm and very wet weather months in April–October along the coasts of northern Peru, which causes major flooding whenever the event is extreme. Major flooding leaves thousands of Peruvians without a home, destroys infrastructure and leads the economy into a collapse.