Chinese Fisheries Catching 12 Times More Than Reported: Study

China’s fishing vessels hauled in approximately 4.6 million tonnes, or $11.5 billion worth, of fish last year, claimed a study published by University of British Columbia scientists on Wednesday, which is more than 12 times larger than the catch the nation reports to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization; and taken from the waters of at least 90 countries – including 3.1 million tons from African waters.

China’s fishing vessels hauled in approximately 4.6 million tonnes, or $11.5 billion worth, of fish last year, claimed a study published by University of British Columbia scientists on Wednesday, which is more than 12 times larger than the catch the nation reports to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization; and taken from the waters of at least 90 countries – including 3.1 million tons from African waters.

“China hasn’t been forthcoming about its fisheries catches,” said the study’s co-author Dirk Zeller, as cited by the Asian Scientist.

[quote]“While not reporting catches doesn’t necessarily mean the fishing is illegal – there could be agreements between these countries and China that allow fishing – we simply don’t know for sure as this information just isn’t available,” he added.[/quote]

The authors said that the unreported catch was potentially devastating to local fisheries around the world – particularly in West Africa, where millions were still suffering from food insecurity.

“The study shows the extent of the looting of Africa, where so many people depend on seafood for basic protein. We need to know how many fish have been taken from the ocean in order to figure out what we can catch in the future,” said Daniel Pauly, the study’s lead author, to The Guardian.

[quote]”Countries need to realise the importance of accurately recording and reporting their catches and step up to the plate, or there will be no fish left for our children.”[/quote]

In total, the UBC study estimated that China had at least 900 fishing vessels worldwide. According to Greenpeace, China is also beginning to rapidly expand its Pacific fisheries, with 241 China-flagged vessels approved to fish by the Forum Fisheries Agency, more than double what it had just a few years ago.

”It’s a grave situation,” said Greenpeace Oceans campaigner Nathaniel Pelle to Fairfax Media. ”China is turning its fishing attention everywhere.”

But the UNFAO placed doubt on the UBC study, pointing out that the estimate of 3.1 million tonnes of fish taken from West Africa by China alone was close to equalling the total catches West Africa produces annually on its own.

“We … believe that the estimates in this paper of Chinese catches off West Africa are far too high,” said Richard Grainger, chief of statistics for the UNFAO, in an e-mail statement to the Canadian Press.

Grainger cited a 2009 estimate from the University of California that up to 560,000 tonnes of unreported fish were taken from West African waters as a far more accurate number than the UBC study.

On their part, UBC’s Zeller admitted that the uncertainty range for the study was around 3.5 million to 6 million. Nonetheless, Zeller affirms that from his research, which involved a team of 20 researchers working for almost eight months, at least several million tonnes of fish go unreported by China each year.

Zeller said his research team gathered data by reviewing fishery “footprints,” such as scientific reports and media reports, to get the estimated number. He further slammed the UN for backing Chinese data, given the nation’s economic and geostrategic power.

“The UN) doesn’t have a mandate to collect data. It is required to report data that countries provide,” said Zeller.

 

[quote]”China is such a powerful player in the UN … that China can basically tell (the UN Food and Agricultural Organization) to mind its own business and it doesn’t have to or feel compelled to accurately, or as accurately as possible, report on its data.”[/quote]

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“We have to be aware the Chinese are a major player in global fisheries. They have probably the largest border fishing fleet in the world and they’ve indicated they’re trying to expand it,” he added.

“They are extremely secretive about their fisheries and therefore about the information they release about it. And that’s a problem for accountability … They are not necessarily alone on this, but given the magnitude of their fisheries that is, of course, a huge problem globally.”