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Report: Not So Many Fish In The Sea

Fishermen unloading buckets of fish from their boats in Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia.

We used to have more fish than we thought, and that means we're harvesting about 50 percent more than official global figures show.

Sweeping research published in the journal Nature Communications compared data from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization with data from "hidden" sources, like fish markets, consumer surveys and hotel invoices.

FAO figures do not take into account subsistence fishing, informal markets, poaching or "bycatch" – fish that are caught unintentionally.

The study collected information from 200 studies and a network of 400 people in countries around the world who dug up ways to measure unreported catch.

FAO data shows that global catches peaked in 1996 with 86 million metric tons, and have slowly declined. The new study puts the global 1996 fish harvest at 130 metric tons. That means the drop is much steeper and more worrying than official numbers suggest.

Researchers said there is one silver lining buried in the numbers. With sustainable practices, world fish stocks could bounce back to higher levels than thought before.

Restrictions on Norwegian herring and cod fisheries have restored stocks and resulted in larger catches, for example.

Read More:



  • Why We've Been Hugely Underestimating The Overfishing Of The Oceans (Washington Post)
  • We May Be Running Out Of Fish Far Faster Than We Realized (Quartz)
  • Overfishing Causing Global Catches To Fall Three Times Faster Than Estimated (The Guardian)


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