This essay reviews the history of the management and extraction schemes of two large industries that have evolved along the Peruvian marine ecosystem during the past two hundred years of the nation’s life: guano harvest and Peruvian pilchard industrial fishery. It also provides a current perspective on the effects of climate change on the Humboldt Current System and closes with a general reflection on the lessons learned to face the future of the Peruvian marine ecosystem in a more responsible manner.

El principio de exclusión competitiva predice que las especies mostrarán mecanismos de segregación para coexistir. En el Sistema de la Corriente de Humboldt (HCS) en Perú, los lobos marinos chuscos (SASL, Otaria byronia) coexisten con lobos marinos finos (SAFS, Arctocephalus australis). Sin embargo, la segregación trófica, temporal y espacial durante la búsqueda de alimento no está claramente definida. El presente estudio describe y compara los nichos ecológicos de las dos especies para determinar si existe diferenciación / sobreposición interespecífica e intraespecífica de nichos. Este estudio se desarrolla en Punta San Juan (PSJ) en Perú, donde se reproducen ambas especies. Las trayectorias poblacionales demuestran que ambas poblaciones se encuentran en un estado de declive. Una reducción en juveniles sugiere que una limitación de recursos explica el declive actual (Cap...

South American fur seals (Arctocephalus australis) continue to survive in Peru in spite of commercial harvesting, periodic disappearance of prey (i.e., El Niño), and competition with the Peruvian anchoveta fishery. I investigated the ability of the Peruvian population of fur seals to recover from catastrophic declines at two temporal and spatial scales. The first analysis determined intrinsic rate of growth (r) and the potential carrying capacity (K*—the number of fur seals that could be supported in Peru in the absence of sealing and El Niño) from 1880–2010, and the second used pup counts from 1984–2010 to determine the relationship between prey abundance and the timing of pupping at an important fur seal breeding site in southern Peru. Model results indicated that South American fur seals in Peru have an intrinsic growth rate r of 0.20 and a potential carrying capacity K* of 11...