(From nature.com) Tropical fishermen catch far more species than reported officially. Global fisheries statistics generally paint a grim picture of ocean health, revealing rampant overfishing and declining fish catches in various regions. But a new study suggests that, in the tropics at least, the statistics have been telling only half the depressing story — if that.
The worst problem was found in American Samoa, where reported catches for the FAO period were 1,525 metric tons, but the authors’ reconstruction put at 25,380 tons. Three- and fourfold underestimates were common. The authors believe further analysis will in many cases lead to even higher results. In a few cases catches were overreported, but this was due to countries such as Vanuatu allowing foreign vessels to register there, leading to foreign catches being counted in a country’s official tally.