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T 7.30AM ONE February morning last year, the great Bay of Paracas shimmered in the light from the desert. Storms of seabirds—small Inca terns and petrels, large cormorants and Peruvian boobies—swirled over the shore, retreating like a mirage on approach. Flamingos flew javelin-straight. Pelicans bobbed on the water, so ungainly that they seem designed by a committee until they took flight, elegantly skimming the waves.
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All take advantage of a food chain centred on great shoals of
anchoveta (Pacific anchovies), which in turn feed on the nutrient-rich plankton provided by the upwelling of the cold Humboldt current along much of Peru’s coastline of 2,500km (1,600 miles). These riches have given the country one of the world’s great fisheries, the third-biggest after China and Indonesia. Exports of fishmeal, oil and frozen and canned fish are worth around $3bn a year. All told, the fishing industry supports around 700,000 jobs. And fresh fish and seafood are at the heart of Peruvian cuisine, one of the world’s tastiest.