In a new article academics have sought to re-evaluate the catches of the Chinese distant-water fleet during 2000-2011. They claim that the official figures provided to the FAO represent a mere 9% of their actual catch, and the revised estimate of 4.6 million tonnes per year of fish caught should instead be valued at close to €9 billion per year.
The seas of West Africa are the most profitable for the Chinese fleet. In these waters, close to 3 million tonnes per year are said to have been caught, with a value of over €5.5 billion per year. The vast majority of this is caught be bottom trawlers, with purse seiners also providing a significant contribution.
Such high levels of catches may be in violation of the bilateral agreements China has with governments who own the fish resources, although information concerning the use of these public resources is not publicly available.
The study’s lead author, Daniel Pauly, was critical of the poor quality of reporting that China has submitted to the FAO. He stated that “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… 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”.
According to Greenpeace, sub-Saharan Africa is now the only region on earth where per capita fish consumption is falling, largely because foreign fishing fleets have removed so much fish. This is of particular concern due to the relatively high levels of population in the region who are dependent on seafood as their main source of protein.
Richard Grainger, chief of statistics for the FAO, disputed the results of the study however. The agency argues that the estimates of Chinese catches off West Africa were “far too high”.