The BBC recently reported on a dispute between Canadian researchers and China over China’s official fish catch figures.
The Canadian researchers published a study in Nature recently suggesting that world fish stocks were likely much lower than previously estimated, largely because the researchers contended that China’s figures on its annual fish catch were unreliable and exaggerated.
Over the past ten years, the Chinese fish catch has steadily increased which the researchers claimed was “unrealistic.”
For its part, China responded by claiming that the statistics are in fact. Chinese official Yang Jian told the BBC that fishing was such a small part of the Chinese economy that there wouldn’t be any incentive for local officials to falsify data.
On the other hand, exaggerating data seems to be endemic among Chinese bureaucrats, so they might just be exaggerating such data out of sheer habit.
Source:
China says ‘fake’ fishery statistics correct. The BBC, December 18, 2001.