Salomon Atoll in the Chagos Archipelago. Photo by Charles and Anne Sheppard, Wikimedia Commons.
Domestic fisheries catches in the Chagos Archipelago are 25 times higher than official statistics show, according to a recent study by Sea Around Us – Indian Ocean and Sea Around Us researchers.
At a moment when the fate of the island group also known as the British Indian Ocean Territory is uncertain, a new paper in the Journal of the Indian Ocean Region highlights the importance of accounting for all fish removals to safeguard the area’s biodiversity values.