C.I.A. MYSTERY: PERU'S ANCHOVIES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01601R000300250001-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 29, 2000
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: November 18, 1972
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2001/09f4~- ATftP80-01601 RO
18 NOV 1372,
1ER 'U AI ClOYIES
Agency Takes Up a Problem
of Sea Currents and Fish
By TAD gZULC
Spmia.1 to The New York Tlmcs
WASHINGTON, Nov. 17-The
.Central Intelligence Agency's
tljirst for worldwide intelligence
has turned to Peruvian an-
chovies and a "mysterious"
warm current to the Pacific that
.made the fish disappear this
year. .
A lengthy classified Intelli-
gence Memorandum, prepared
last month by the C.I.A.'s Office
of Economic Research and ob-
s'- '
PANAMA
QY
3 r::
r, , Qo,ioo
had driven the anchovies -from,
their feeding grounds and be-
yond the reach of Peruvian fish-
The New York Times/Nov. 18, 1972
This year warns currents
(heavy arrows) have pen-
etrated the anchovy fish-
ing grounds despite the
Humboldt Current.
tained today by The New York
iTimes, reported that the warm
current, known as " Elnillo de
Navedad" ("Christmas Child")
. I
Inasmuch as the processing'
of the anchovies into fish meal
.is Peru's foremost manufactur-
ing activity -- providing eln-
ployment for tens of thousands
of workers 'aboard the fishing
boats and in coastal factories
and supplying 30 per cent of.
the country's foreign exchange
earnings-the unusually early
Approved FKV111w b
cconomv.
The C. I: A. also discovered
that the vagaries of the current
are. already having an impact on
worldwide prices of fish-meal-
based livestock feeds and, con-
sequently, on cattle and poul-
try prices. It may even hurt,
commodity dealers in the Uni-i
ted States and West Germany.;
The C.I.A. explained that an-i
chovies thrive in the cool waters!
of the north-moving Humboldt
Current. Every December,
(warm currents move south
to northern Peru, but by March
.they are pushed away by the
Humboldt'Current.
But every seven years the
warm currents, for unknown
treasons, push far south. of their
normal range, forcing away the
anchovies and curtailing catches
sharply.
"Peruvians calf this phe-
nomenon El Nino de Navedad
because it usually appears off
their shores during the holiday
season," the C.I.A. said..
But this year when an ex-
cellent fish ing? season had been
expected, the Humboldt Current
was particularly weak, "allow-
ing the Nino to last longer
than usual," the memorandum
continued.
BJune, 1972, the C.I.A. re-
orty
.ped, the anchovy catch "had
fallen to only about 10 per
cent of normal."
Peru had expected an output
of two. million tons of fish
meal this year, but at the
end of August the stocks had
fallen to 325,000 tons and all
exports were banned despite
major export commitments.
The C.I.A. study concluded
that following the subsequent
ban on all fishing, "the fleet
and fishmeal plants will lie
idle for many months and un-
employment will swell."
The memorandum warned
,that many fish-meal companies
might collapse "if not kept
afloat b y new government
loans" and unless the Peruv-
ian Government allowed "the
least efficient firms to go under
While assuming their debts and
offering other jobs to their
workers."
Furthermore, the C.I.A. said,
Peru's revolutionary military
government had relied heavily
on fish-meal sales to cover the
import requirements for its
five-year development . plan,
which includes -oil and copper
ventures and manufacturing.
Because Peru held large fish-
meal stocks from, last year's
production, the C.I.A. said, she
still may earn $270-million from
these exports in 1972. Last yea
sales brought'. $330-million. .
V
STATINTL
4: CIA-RDP80-01601 R000300250001-4
 STATI NTL. SAGA
Approved For Release 2001JO3/ d DP80-016
SAG blows the lid off .the South 6-
.narcotics pipeline-naming the. polii
erals,and diplomats in Mexico,'Vene
Peru, J Panama, and Bolivia who
`white gold" death racket-that i
drug traffickers in the western He.
Approved-for Releas4 2Q01/03/04 : CtA-F D1 80401:6 #R0dO OO 4 9
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