14 DAY TRIAL // A new study pieced together by University of British Columbia researchers says that China only reports about 9% of the fish it catches either off Africa's coastline or in other international waters.
More precisely, this study states that China's 3,400 vessels that are in the business of fishing in distant waters catch about 4.1 million tonnes of fish on a yearly basis. Of these, they are said to only report an average of 368,000 tonnes.
By the looks of it, several experts have long suspected that Chinese fishermen tend not to report the exact amounts of fish they catch in such waters, despite their being required to do so.
However, little did they suspect that a whopping 91% of their entire catch fails to be mentioned in official reports.
According to Mongabay, the researchers are very much concerned that China's current fishing practices might eventually harm both Africa's aquatic ecosystems and its human communities.
On the longer run, the Chinese fishermen's reporting just 9% of their catch is bound to impact on food security on a global scale.
“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,” argued Daniel Pauly, a specialist currently working with the University of British Columbia (UBC).
“Countries need to realize 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,” Daniel Pauly went on to argue.
Interestingly enough, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization agrees that China more often than not fails to properly report its catches, yet maintains that the figures listed in this report are exaggerated.