To the Editor: Selvey and Carey1 cite an article by Srinivasan and colleagues2 to support their claim that “Forty per cent of Australia’s managed fish stocks have been deemed overfished”. However, the data in that article were misquoted from the Australian Government’s Fishery status reports 2006, which actually stated that 14 of the 97 fish stocks reviewed were overfished3 — 14%, not 40%. More recent evidence from the 2012 review of 150 fish stocks showed that only two (1.3%) were at risk of overfishing, and plans were already in place for their effective recovery.4
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- 1. Selvey LA, Carey MG. Australia’s dietary guidelines and the environmental impact of food “from paddock to plate”. Med J Aust 2013; 198: 18-19. <MJA full text>
- 2. Srinivasan UT, Watson R, Sumaila UR. Global fisheries losses at the exclusive economic zone level, 1950 to present. Marine Policy 2012; 36: 544-549.
- 3. Larcombe J, McLoughlin K, editors. Fishery status reports 2006: status of fish stocks managed by the Australian Government. Canberra: Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Bureau of Rural Sciences, 2007.
- 4. Flood M, Stobutzki I, Andrews J, et al. Status of key Australian fish stocks reports 2012. Canberra: Australian Government Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, 2012. http://www. fish.gov.au/Pages/SAFS_Report.aspx (accessed Aug 2013).
- 5. National Health and Medical Research Council. Australian dietary guidelines incorporating the Australian guide to healthy eating: providing the scientific evidence for healthier Australian diets. Draft for public consultation. Canberra: NHMRC, 2011. http://consultations.nhmrc.gov.au/files/consultations/n55draftaustraliandietary guidelinesconsultation111212.pdf (accessed Aug 2013).
The Centre of Excellence for Science, Seafood and Health (CESSH) is an independent research centre that has several current projects funded through the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation and the Australian Seafood Cooperative Research Centre. The comments contained in this letter are independent of any of the bodies from which the CESSH has successfully gained research funding.