Peru: The Great Big Little Fish

Less than 15 years ago, a couple of Peruvian entrepreneurs started seining the waters off the coast of Peru for anchovy, a tiny fish that, processed in different ways, can be tasty as an hors d’oeuvre or can make wonderful livestock food. By last year, fish meal was Peru’s biggest single industry, bringing in $116 million in export earnings (TIME, May 8). Last week the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization announced that because of the anchovy, Peru is now kingfish of the entire world’s fishing business. Of the record 46.4 million tons of fish caught around the world last year, Peruvian fishermen hauled in 6,901,300 tons. Japan, the world’s top fishing country each year since 1948, slipped back to second place with 6,697,000 tons.