Google Earth Reveals Unreported Fish Catches Along the Persian Gulf Coast

Google Earth images of large fish traps in the Persian Gulf coast indicate that the amount of fish caught could be six times more than what is reported officially, according to a new finding by Canadian researchers.

The finding reported by researchers at the University of British Colombia suggests that based on the first investigation of fish catch it is evident that the number of fish caught by large traps called weirs is six times more than what is officially reported. This latest estimate was produced using satellite imagery from Google Earth.

The semi permanent traps called fishing weirs that are mostly used in the Africas, Southeast Asia, and some regions of North America, take advantage of the difference in tide to catch the marine species. These weirs can stretch to more than 100 meters in length. They have been in use for almost 3000 years.

Based on the Google Earth images, the researchers estimated that in 2005, there were nearly 1,900 fishing weirs along the coast of the Persian Gulf. These fishing weirs caught nearly 31,000 tons of fish that year. But the official number as presented to the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization by the seven countries was 5,260 tons.

"This ancient fishing technique has been around for thousands of years," Dalal Al-Abdulrazzak, a PhD student with the UBC Fisheries Centre's-Sea Around Us Project and the study's lead author, said in a statement. "But we haven't been able to truly grasp their impact on our marine resources until now, with the help of modern technology."

The study lays emphasis on the use of remote sensing approaches like satellite imagery to confirm catch statistics and also fishing operations. At the same time it highlights the unreliability of officially reported fisheries statistics.

"Time and again we've seen that global fisheries catch data don't add up," says Daniel Pauly, principal investigator with the Sea Around Us Project and the study's co-author. "Because countries don't provide reliable information on their fisheries' catches, we need to expand our thinking and look at other sources of information and new technologies to tell us about what's happening in our oceans."

The study was documented in the ICES Journal of Marine Sciences.