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IRI Climate Information Digest - Impacts November 1998

  • FISHERIES - Reports from late in the month suggest that small pelagic fish (species that live at or near the surface of the open ocean) along the West coast of South American are beginning to show signs of slight recovery following the adverse effects of the 1997/1998 El Niño. During the last week of November, however, Peruvian landings of small pelagics declined 33% compared with the previous week. Northern Chile will enter a closed fishing season from Dec. 1, 1998 to February 1, 1999. The 1998 cumulative landings of small pelagics in Peru are 2,864,300 metric tons compared to 6,933,412 for the same period in 1997. Northern Chile 1998 small pelagic landings are 335,780 metric tons compared to 1,751,294 metric tons for the same period in 1997. The extremely low landings continue to aggravate unemployment and social hardships among fishermen, fishmeal plant and cannery workers, and in associated industries.

    The IRI East Pacific Pelagic Fisheries database and glossary of fisheries terms can be found at IRI EPPF.

  • CLIMATE AND HEALTH - The Pan American Health Organization has credited the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch with the following outbreaks of disease during November: a) Leptospirosos, 523 cases in Nicaragua, b) Cholera, 724 suspected cases in Guatemala and 301 confirmed casts in Nicaragua, c) Dengue, 1,244 cases (54 reported hemorrhagic) in Nicaragua and 1,165 cases (49 confirmed hemorrhagic) in Honduras.
  • HAZARDS/THREATS - The World Watch Institute reports accumulated losses in excess of $89,000 million, 32,000 deaths, 300 million people displaced in weather and climate related incidents for the first 11 months of 1998. Many of these losses, though not all, have been attributed to the direct or indirect influence of the 1997/1998 El Niño and its transition into the 1998 La Niña. Substantial losses were associated with Hurricane Mitch. [See the October 1998 Climate Information Digest for more details.]
  • AGRICULTURE
    • Unseasonably cold conditions have virtually halted the growth of winter grain in Europe and western parts of the Former Soviet Union.
    • Dry conditions in northwestern Africa delayed the planting of winter grains.
    • Excess November rainfall hampered new crop development and winter crop maturation over parts of Queensland.
    • Dryness related to La Niña conditions has started to slow crop development in central Argentina and Rio Grande do Sol, Brazil.

Material for this portion of the IRI Climate Information Digest has been extracted from the IRI Climate Data Library, the NOAA NCEP Climate Prediction Center, the USDA/NOAA Joint Agricultural Weather Facility and the Fishmeal Exporters Organization. Additional information was obtained from the CHGE, and the UN/OCHA.