Global fish stocks are dramatically lower than reported by the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization, scientists at the University of British Columbia announced today in an article in the journal Nature. The scientists’ findings — that global catches are decreasing by nearly 800 million pounds per year — directly contradict those of the FAO, the body responsible for determining fish stocks, which concluded that catches were increasing by 700 million pounds per year. The Nature article accuses China of dramatically inflating its catch numbers, thereby distorting global figures. The truth, the authors say, is that overfishing and population expansion have led to a decrease in total available seafood from 34 pounds per person per year in 1988 to only about 25 pounds per person per year today. They predict a drop to less than 17 pounds by 2020.
