Lyin', cheatin', fishermen

OK, we all know about the "one that got away", and in other cases, the one that didn't get away was reported as a lot bigger than it actually was. And fishermen probably routinely report that they caught a lot more than they kept -- at least at the recreational level.

Well, it turns out that at the commercial level, fishermen and fisher fleets report a lot less than they catch. Actually, a whole amazing lot less. And it's just now coming to light, based on the dedicated work of Daniel Pauly.

Arctic fishing grossly underreported

Here's some of the amazing, appalling numbers:

"The study, published this week in the journal Polar Biology, estimated that fisheries catches in Russian, Canadian and U.S. Arctic waters totalled 950,000 tonnes from 1950 to 2006 — nearly 75 times more than 12,700 tonnes reported to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization."

This as well:

"For example, statistics from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game showed that over the study period, the Arctic fish catch in Alaska alone was 89,000 tonnes, even though the U.S. reported no catches at all to the UN."


Someday we're going to wake up and wonder where all the fish went. And that day isn't far off.