Fisheries Centre The University of British Columbia Working Paper Series Working Paper #2015 - 85 Reconstruction of marine fisheries statistics in the Egyptian Mediterranean Sea, 1950-2010 Hatem H Mahmoud, Lydia Teh, Myriam Khalfallah and Daniel Pauly anafy Year: 2015 Email:
[email protected] This working paper is made available by the Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada. Reconstruction of marine fisheries statistics in the Egyptian Mediterranean Sea, 1950-2010 Hatem Hanafy Mahmoud1, Lydia Teh2, Myriam Khalfallah2, Daniel Pauly2 1 College of Fisheries Technology & Aquaculture, Arab Academy for Science, Technology & Maritime Transport 2 Sea Around Us, Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia, 2202 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada Corresponding author:
[email protected] ABSTRACT We reconstruct marine fisheries catches for Egypt in the Mediterranean from 1950-2010 to account for catches that are omitted from official statistics. Annual landings statistics reported by the FAO under-estimate actual catches from Egypt’s industrial and small-scale fisheries, while catches from recreational fishing and discarded fish are absent. This reconstruction quantifies unreported and under-reported catch from Egypt’s Exclusive Economic Zone in the Mediterranean. Reconstructed total catch was 3.7 million t from 1950-2010, which is 1.9 times the 1.97 million t reported by FAO on behalf of Egypt for the same time period. The industrial sector accounted for 83% of under-reported catch. While the magnitude of under-reported catch has decreased steadily since the 1990s, there remains much uncertainty over how much fish is taken from Egypt’s Mediterranean waters.