The best catch data that can possibly be? Rejoinder to Ye et al. “FAO's statistic data and sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture”

- Reply to a commentary by Ye, Barange (Mar. Policy 2017) on Pauly and Zeller [2].
- Emphasizes the importance of FAO's data work, which the Sea Around Us does not claim to replace.
- Highlights the importance of retroactive corrections of time series to avoid a 'presentist bias'.
- Suggests that FAO recognize that their catch data, like all data, consists of refutable estimates.
- Most national and hence FAO data would benefit from extensive retroactive corrections.

Here we reply to a commentary by Ye et al. (Mar. Policy 2017; Ye et al.) on our article (Pauly and Zeller, 2017 [2]) commenting on FAO's interpretation of current fisheries trends in SOFIA 2016 (The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture). We show how arguments such as FAO's catch statistics being “the best they can possibly be”, and other manifestations of FAO's difficulties in constructively engaging with comments compromises FAO's stated goal to engage with academia and civil society. This is particularly serious in an age where the value of an open scientific discourse is increasingly under threat, as is the food security of many poor countries in which fish supplied by domestic fisheries constitutes a strong component of local diets.