This is the most heavily exploited fish in world history (FAO-FIGIS 2001). Among other threats, global warming is probably affecting the fisheries of this species (Soto 2002).
This is a highly commercial species, mainly utilized as fish meal. The harvest in 1990 in Peru was 4,017,106 t and in Chile was more than 500,000 t. Seines were used as the main method of harvesting (Watson and Sandknop 1996).