In 2016, Dr. Daniel Pauly and Dr. Dirk Zeller were co-editors on GLOBAL ATLAS OF MARINE FISHERIES: AS CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF CATCHES AND ECOSYSTEMS IMPACTS. This book encapsulated data collected by the Sea Around Us Project, documenting fisheries catch reconstructions for all maritime countries of the world, which initially covered the years from 1950 to 2010.
Prior to this opus there has been only one source of data on global fishery catches: information reported to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations by member countries. The Sea Around Us Project spent ten-years undertaking this epic study, showing that the officially reported catch data was misleading, with many countries underreporting the catch by as much as 500%, while others significantly over-reported their catches. The study also included poorly reported data from small-scale, sport and recreational fishers; information that was not included in FAO figures.
The documentation in this work, which covers all maritime countries and island territories of the world, briefly presents how the updates and the ‘carry-forwards’ were done, with a brief characterization of the local fisheries. For nearly all countries and territories Sea Around Us also documents the degree of protection that may be provided to the fish stocks in the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of the country or territory in question, notably through the marine protected areas (MPA) that they contain. However, in view of the multitude of countries (or part thereof) and territories covered, this documentation spans two Fisheries Centre Reports.
The first volume covers African countries and territories, including the many islands surrounding that continent, Antarctica and its surrounding island territories, and Europe, with the North Atlantic islands and southern Mediterranean countries added in.
The second volume covers the Americas, including the Caribbean and much of the Indo-Pacific region, i.e., East, South, Southeast and East Asia, and Oceania.
See both here: https://fisheries-2023.sites.olt.ubc.ca/research/publications/research-reports/
Tags: Daniel Pauly, Marine catches, Publications, Research, Sea Around Us