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A new report claims that the level of fish caught in New Zealand waters could be three times higher than what has been reported over 60 years.
The Fisheries Centre of The University of British Columbia is expected to soon release its reconstruction of marine fisheries catches in New Zealand from 1950-2010.
A leaked copy of the report, led by University of Auckland research fellow Dr Glenn Simmons, estimated that over 60 years, 40.4 million tonnes of catch was taken. That was roughly 2.9 times the 14 million tonnes reported officially during the period.
Government officials are braced for the impact of the report, acknowledging that New Zealand's data on historic catch levels are poor.
Since the quota management system was introduced, Simmons "conservatively" estimated that the actual catch was 2.2 times official reported data.
Simmons, who could not be reached for comment on Friday, blamed the "vast majority" of the unreported catch on industrial catch and discards, in large part pointing the finger at foreign flagged vessels.
He described the unreported catch by recreational and customary fishermen - 550,000 tonnes over 60 years - as "insignificant" by comparison.
The fishing industry source who had seen the report urged caution, saying it was developed in absence of "hard data" and funded in part by the Pew Foundation, a major American charity which wants to establish a major new fishing reserve off the North Island.
The source claimed the report was "effectively an international attack on the quota management system".
Officials at the Ministry for Primary Industries were preparing to warn Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy about it earlier this month.
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