Regional climate, primary productivity and fish biomass drive growth variation and population resilience in a small pelagic fish

•Development of 53-year long growth chronologies of pelagic fish in upwelling system.•SST, primary productivity and fish biomass impact growth of Atlantic horse mackerel.•Identification of ecosystem-wide changes potentially driven by climatic indices.•Evidence for carryover effects in growth performance of Atlantic horse mackerel.•Multiple, interacting environmental and biotic factors affect marine productivity.