The smell of money: why locals think Peru’s billion-dollar fishmeal sector stinks

Those living in the coastal city of Chimbote say the industry pollutes the air and water, makes their children sick and has put local fishers out of work

Just before you reach Chimbote, a seaside city 260 miles (420km) north of the Peruvian capital Lima, you can smell it. It's like the whiff of a fishmonger's stall on a hot afternoon. For Peruvians, it's synonymous with a bad pong; smells like Chimbote" means something stinks.

Once that scent was the smell of money", according to another popular expression. A natural superabundance of Peruvian anchovy - known locally as anchoveta - off its Pacific coast makes Peru the world's biggest producer of fishmeal, a condensed powder or cake made from ground dried fish.