What follows is an article in my mini-series about fake climate change stories from the Guardian and the BBC about sundry locations around the world. Earlier episodes in the series included The Gambia Gambit, Niger Negatives, Volte-Face , The Cancun Con, Japanese Bears and Malawian Mystery. This one was triggered by the headline (“South Korea’s fishermen keep dying. Is climate change to blame?”) to a recent article on the BBC website.

The gist of the article is that 75% more people in South Korea were killed or went missing in accidents in the surrounding seas in 2024 than in 2023. According to the BBC, most were fishermen whose boats were sunk or capsized. Happily for the BBC’s narrative, it managed to find a couple of people to say what it wanted to hear. Mr Hong, who chairs the Jeju Fishing Boat Owners Association, duly obliged:

The weather has changed, it’s getting windier every year…Whirlwinds pop up suddenly. We fisherman are convinced it is down to climate change.

In addition:

…This year, the head of the taskforce [set up by the South Korean government to investigate the accidents] pinpointed climate change as one of the major causes…

However, he did (as, in fairness, the BBC reports) also highlight other problems — the country’s aging fishing workforce, a growing reliance on migrant workers, and poor safety training.

We are then told that the seas around South Korea have warmed between 1968 and 2024 at twice the global average, that warming waters contribute to extreme weather at sea as well as causing some fish species to migrate.

The BBC may have been mildly disappointed that while Professor Kim Baek-min, a climate scientist at South Korea’s Pukyong National University, said that climate change was creating the conditions to make strong, sudden wind gusts more likely, he qualified that statement by adding that a clear trend had not yet been established. For that, he said, more research and long-term data is needed.

Further undermining the BBC’s climate change narrative, the article also mentioned that increasingly, elderly captains must rely on help from migrant workers from Vietnam and Indonesia. Often these workers do not receive sufficient safety training, and language barriers mean they cannot communicate with the captains – further compounding the dangers.

The daughter of a fisherman who died when his trawler capsized in February this year says it has become too easy for boat owners to blame climate change for accidents. Even in cases where bad weather plays a role, she believes it is still the owners’ responsibility to assess the risks and keep their crew safe. “Ultimately it is their call when to go out,” she said.

Finally, as regards aspects of the BBC article undermining its climate change narrative, we are also told that the government’s taskforce is recommending that boats be fitted with safety ladders, fisherman be required to wear life jackets, and that safety training be mandatory for all foreign crew. It also wants to improve search and rescue operations, and for fisherman to have access to more localised and real-time weather updates.

So much for the BBC article. It’s worth noting that the data can be presented rather differently. For instance, we learn from the Baird Maritime website that while the number of casualties tragically increased by around 75% from 2023 to 2024, the number of incidents increased by only 5.3 per cent over the same time period. Moreover, of these cases, collisions accounted for more than 34 per cent, and other accidents that have been identified include safety-related cases (26.2 per cent) and fires and explosions (19.8 per cent). In other words, around 80% of the accidents don’t appear to be weather-related.

As reported by Reuters, one of the most tragic fishing boat accidents from 2024 had nothing to do with weather or climate. One of the rescued sailors told the Yonhap news agency that the boat capsized when they were hauling up fishing nets to transfer the catch to another vessel.

While the main thrust of the BBC article was to the effect that climate change was making the weather more dangerous for South Korean fisherman, the other strand of its case was to the effect that warming waters caused by climate change was causing fish stocks to relocate, with the result that South Korean fishermen are being forced to travel further from shore, and to more dangerous waters, in a desperate attempt to find fish:

…They [warming waters] are also causing some fish species around South Korea to migrate, according to the country’s National Institute of Fisheries Science, forcing fisherman to travel further and take greater risks to catch enough to make a living….

…A few years ago, Mr Kim began to notice that the popular silvery hairtail fish he relied on were disappearing from local waters, and his earnings plunged by half.

Now his crews have to journey into deeper, more perilous waters to find them, sometimes sailing as far south as Taiwan.

“Since we’re operating farther away, it’s not always possible to return quickly when there’s a storm warning,” he said. “If we stayed closer to shore it would be safer, but to make a living we have to go farther out.”…

…Because the problem will likely worsen. The UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation forecasts that total fish catches in South Korea will decline by almost a third by the end of this century, if carbon emissions and global warming continue on their current trajectories.

There you have it, in a nutshell. It’s all the fault of climate change, driving the fish stocks away and making the seas more dangerous. But could there be another explanation for the declining fish stocks?

One doesn’t have to look far to discover that the elephant in the room is over-fishing by the Chinese. Needless to say, the BBC doesn’t mention it. A serious article (perhaps one that involved BBC Verify, who never seem to mark the BBC’s homework) would have talked about over-fishing, but that would have undermined the opportunity for yet another headline implying more global horrors due to climate change.

The Global Fishing Watch website tells a different story. It notes that while squid provides a vital source of income for fishers in Japan and South Korea, since 2003, squid populations in the two countries had plummeted by around 80 percent. Both countries introduced measures to reduce fishing pressure, but the trend remained the same. Then they asked: what was taking place throughout the waters of neighboring North Korea? Large numbers of industrial vessels were seen heading towards North Korea from China, despite U.N. sanctions banning foreign fleets from fishing in the waters of the rogue state. And there was another tragic trend: hundreds of small fishing boats from North Korea were washing up along the coast of Russia—their crews missing, starving or dead.

…They found more than 900 large vessels of Chinese origin fishing in North Korean waters, in violation of U.N. sanctions. Estimates suggest they caught nearly half a billion dollar’s worth of Pacific flying squid from 2017-2018, measuring more than 160,000 metric tons, or as much as Japan and South Korea’s catch combined.

…The scale of the fleet involved in this illegal fishing is about one-third the size of China’s entire distant water fishing fleet. It is the largest known case of illegal fishing perpetrated by vessels originating from one country operating in another nation’s waters. By synthesizing data from multiple satellite sensors, we created an unprecedented, robust picture of fishing activity in a notoriously opaque region.…

The Oceana website made the point equally as forcefully as recently as June this year. In an article discussing the waters of the Yellow Sea, shared between South Korea and China, it observed that China is disregarding, on a massive scale, the bilateral fisheries agreement signed by the two countries in 2001. This established a co-managed area called the Provisional Measures Zone (PMZ) within the contested area, where both countries have fishing rights. Within this zone, both Chinese and South Korean vessels are permitted to fish. Surrounding the PMZ, there are “transitional zones” designated for each country, with an agreement to gradually reduce fishing in each other’s transitional zones and eventually return control of these zones back to their respective country.

Oceana’s work revealed the following:

Despite the shared nature of the PMZ, and despite the recent agreements to reduce fishing, China continues to dominate the fishing activity in these areas. In the three-year period between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2024, South Korean vessels appeared to fish for just 66,267 hours in the jointly managed PMZ. Meanwhile, Chinese vessels appeared to fish for over 8 million hours – over 100 times more than South Korea. This is enabled by China’s massive fishing fleet, the largest of any country in the world. In the PMZ, China operated over 30 times as many fishing vessels as South Korea. Even in South Korea’s “transitional zone” where China should be scaling back its fishing, China outpaced South Korea’s apparent fishing hours by 36%, with over twice as many active vessels.

Is it any wonder that fish stocks are disappearing from the waters around South Korea, and that South Korean fishermen are having to travel further from home in their aging fishing vessels, in search of fish? One might have thought the BBC article would have touched on this fundamental issue. One might have though that, but one would be wrong.

But what the hell? Let’s just blame climate change.

17 Comments

  2. It’s true, it seems…whether applying for funding, submitting papers for review, or just reporting…Without those buzz-words…”Climate Change” (or synonyms)…nothing happens…

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  3. I have a personal theory regarding various government institutions (BBC, Met Office, DESNZ etc) obsessive fixation with promoting climate change that I have run past several people I know. They are quite stunned when I put it to them, but, on explanation and giving examples, find themselves both somewhat surprised and alarmed to be in agreement with me.

    The self perpetuating problem though is that if I were to explain my theory online I would be either deleted or become a major hate figure because there are now so many issues that we are not allowed to openly discuss. In my own specific work regarding the Met Office I have come across issues that are way beyond rational or credible meteorology or whatever “climate Science” can be described as, that is allowed to go unchallenged by “insiders” because of this problem within the cabal.

    “Climate Science” and all relating issues have long failed to meet any scientific criteria. “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!” but it will be along very shortly.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. It’s obviously a terrible problem. Fortunately there’s a solution: a few more wind turbines and solar panels should fix it.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Ray, You are not going to be cancelled from sites such as this, Substack or X for speaking anti-establishment “heresies”. You might get blocked by the likes of the Met Office but that wouldn’t matter because you are never going to persuade them to change their ways by rational argument.

    The arguments need to be presented to the general public rather than establishment bodies and politicians. I switched to give priority to this approach years ago. The fact that polling for the Uniparty is in the doldrums while Reform is in the ascendant shows that this approach works.

    I’m an old codger with little to lose, except that I have to avoid riling my “liberal” family and friends too much. I’ve posted open letters to my MP accusing him of complicity in Covid crimes against humanity with no comeback. Only today I posted a set of three linked comments (head to head with Jaime) on David Turver’s substack which would probably have led to an Ofgem prosecution on a forum such as GB News: https://open.substack.com/pub/davidturver/p/high-energy-bills-fuelling-revolutionary?utm_campaign=comment-list-share-cta&utm_medium=web&comments=true&commentId=170274798.

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  6. Doug Brodie,

    I take your point, but I can see Ray’s issue in being reluctant to be too explicit regarding his thoughts. Cliscep doesn’t lightly censure commenters – libellous or gratuitously offensive comments might be deleted or censored, but other than that we’re pretty easy-going. However, comments here are visible for all to see, and lurkers who don’t like what they see might seek to make life difficult for commenters elsewhere.

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  7. Hi Mark

    One to add to your “….mini-series about fake climate change stories from the … BBC about sundry locations around the world.”

    ‘Jeapardy in Joshimath’

    On 9 January 2023 Aunty ran “Joshimath: The trauma of living in India’s sinking Himalayan town”, and on 13th January 2023 it ran “Joshimath: ‘From two-storey house to sharing a room with five’ ”

    Both stories were categorised under “Climate change”, as shown via Wayback Machine:

    https://web.archive.org/web/20230109220948/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-64201536

    https://web.archive.org/web/20230113060400/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-64258918

    The first story actually explained the prime causes of the adverse events at Joshimath:

    “Human activity seems to be primarily responsible for Joshinath’s woes. Over decades, a lot of water has been pumped out from beneath the ground for farming, making the sand and stone fragile. With the soil dipping, the town has been slowly sinking. “The situation is alarming,” says DP Dobhal, a geologist.

    As early as 1976, a government study warned that Joshimath was sinking, and recommended a ban on heavy construction work in the area. It pointed out that a lack of adequate drainage facilities was leading to landslides. “Joshimath is not suitable for a township,” the study cautioned.”

    Since the causes were, according to their content, cleary not climate-related, I complained.

    To be fair to the Beeb, in it’s initial response (after 3 weeks) it admitted “You raise a fair point and we have since removed the tags from both stories, although we don’t agree this requires a correction.”

    It’s noted that since the complaint, the headline of the second article has morphed into:

    “Joshimath: Cramped shelters fill up fast as India’s Himalayan town sinks”

    I daren’t add links to the current pages in case it triggers your SpamTrap. 😀

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Joe P,

    You obviously caught the BBC bang to rights there, since it’s not normal for them to concede so readily. However, I note that they still managed to deny the need for a correction. It would never do for them to have to admit that they have falsely been adding climate change tags to stories that have nothing to do with climate change, now would it?

    Liked by 2 people

  9. Hi Ray

    My personal theory regarding various government institutions (BBC, Met Office, DESNZ etc) obsessive fixation with promoting climate change is that climate ‘change’ is blamed for every weather event from which an adverse effect can be deemed. No matter how ludicrous.

    E.g. “Bee-eaters in Norfolk ‘worrying sign of climate change’ ”
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-61837499

    Despite pointing out that records showing bee-eaters have visited Norfolk since at least 1794.

    “1. James Edward Smith (1794) in the Transactions of the Linnean Society, Vol. III. p. 333, in extracts from the minutes read on 2nd July, 1794, says: ‘The President communicated an account of Merops apiaster, the Bee-eater, having been shot (for the first time in Great Britain), near Mattishall, in the county of Norfolk, by the Rev. George Smith. The identical specimen was exhibited, by permission of Mr. Thomas Talbot, of Wymondham. A flight of about twenty was seen in June, and the same flight probably (much diminished in numbers) was observed passing over the same spot in October following.'”

    The source below quotes numerous sightings in Britain throughout the 19th century.

    https://www.historicalrarebirds.info/cat-ac/european-bee-eater

    Whilst it’s sad that birds were shot, a cadaver provides irrefutable evidence!

    The Beeb’s ECU disagreed!

    Liked by 3 people

  10. We have talked here before about the misinformation contained in a BBC article suggesting that the appearance of bee-eaters in the UK is a “worrying sign” of climate change. I am not sufficiently old as to be able to attest to their presence in the UK in the late 18th century, but I saw one on the low hills northwest of Kendal over 30 years ago.

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  11. Pingback: News Round-Up – The Daily Sceptic

  12. “South Korea grapples with surge in anti-China sentiment as Xi Jinping prepares to fly in”

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/27/south-korea-protests-anti-china-sentiment-apec-summit-xi-jinping-visit

    …Tensions with China have long been fuelled by disputes such as Chinese economic retaliation after South Korea deployed a US missile defence system, illegal fishing in Korean waters and claims of cultural appropriation…

    This being the Guardian, that sentence concludes thus:

    …but experts say these grievances are now being weaponised by a resurgent rightwing movement in South Korea.

    The link provided the Guardian is interesting, being less than two weeks old (how did I miss it?):

    https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2025-10-15/national/socialAffairs/Coast-Guard-cracks-down-on-illegal-foreign-fishing-/2420530

    …Between 130 and 233 Chinese vessels have recently been observed near the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the Yellow Sea, a zone where all foreign fishing operations are strictly prohibited, according to the Coast Guard.

    Additionally, out of the 1,150 Chinese vessels authorized to operate in Korea’s exclusive economic zone, more than half — 711 bottom trawlers — are scheduled to resume fishing from Thursday. That brings the total number of Chinese vessels active in the Yellow Sea to over 800.

    Authorities suspect that some of these vessels are illegally using banned equipment, such as large-scale drag nets, or are unlicensed boats disguising themselves as legally authorized operators....

    Liked by 1 person

  13. OK, so it’s not Korea, but the theme is the same:

    “‘Mad fishing’: the super-size fleet of squid catchers plundering the high seas
    Every year a Chinese-dominated flotilla big enough to be seen from space pillages the rich marine life on Mile 201, a largely ungoverned part of the South Atlantic off Argentina”

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jan/06/squid-argentina-coast-guard-overfishing-ecosystems-animal-cruelty-human-rights-china

    I wonder when the “green” defenders of China (who love their renewables growth, while ignoring human rights abuses, fossil fuel use, neo-colonialism and environmental destruction by the Chinese) are going to wake up?

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  14. This is about seas off west Africa, not Korea, but the essential point is the same, and should be noted by those useful idiots who are always praising China as leading the green revolution, while ignoring its fossil fuel use and abuses of human rights, in the bizarre belief that the Chinese Communist Party leadership somehow cares more about the environment than we in the west do:

    “How the ‘Galápagos of west Africa’ is plundered by floating fish factories

    A Guardian investigation with DeSmog reveals thousands of tonnes of fish are illegally turned into fishmeal and oil off the coast of Guinea-Bissau”

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/mar/09/fish-factories-west-africa-guardian-investigation-desmog-fishmeal-oil

    …many of these creatures in this area rely on sardinella, a small oily fish. It is a vital food source for migratory birds such as terns that winter in Bijagós in their tens of thousands, as well as for barracudas and jacks, and whales and dolphins further out to sea.

    But the shoals of this pelagic fish draw another, more voracious predator: industrial boats fishing the boundary of the marine protected area, which in theory they cannot enter.

    Among the vessels circulating here in 2025 was the Hua Xin 17. At 125 metres, it is longer than a football field. It is listed as a cargo ship in maritime databases, but a new investigation by the Guardian and DeSmog can reveal that the Chinese-owned boat is in fact a floating factory that turns fresh sardinella into fishmeal and oil by the tonne.

    Eyewitness accounts, exclusive video footage and satellite records show that a group of Turkish boats that supply the Hua Xin 17 appear to have routinely fished sardinella illegally inside Bijagós.

    The factory is one of two ships anchored in the open sea that have illicitly processed up to hundreds of thousands of tonnes of freshly caught sardinella into fishmeal and oil….

    …A relatively new boat to these waters, the Hua Xin 17 was anchored for a total of 157 days in 2025 about 50km off the coast of Orango island, which is famous as the home of rare saltwater hippos.

    Its discovery by the Guardian adds fresh evidence of the expansion in Guinea-Bissau of offshore processing factories, which are turning over hundreds of tonnes of fresh fish a day.

    Another offshore fishmeal factory, the Tian Yi He 6, spent 244 days moored at sea in 2025, belching out black smoke about 60km from Orango island.

    The Tian Yi He 6 has been operating as a fishmeal factory near Bijagós for more than five years, and has a history of infringing Guinea-Bissau’s laws….

    ...A local sailor, Antonio*, spent seven months on board the Hua Xin 17 in 2024. He reports that 25 crew members alternated in six-hour shifts to process sardinella on board the ship.

    A smaller boat ferried sacks of fishmeal to Bissau port, and brought back supplies, he says, also alleging that workers were left isolated at sea off the coast of Guinea-Bissau, which has a poor record of upholding seafarers’ rights.

    Antonio reports harsh conditions for the Guinean crew, who, he says, were mistreated by Chinese managers on board. “They don’t see us as equal to them,” he tells the Guardian at a cafe in Bissau port. “They only gave us rice to eat. Breakfast, lunch and dinner – just rice.” The Chinese staff had their own food and separate rooms, he says, while Guineans slept in bunk beds, 10 to a cabin.

    Antonio has shared with the Guardian secretly recorded video footage showing tonnes of sardinella fresh from the sea travelling along an assembly line….

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  15. I’m posting this here, because it’s about the same issue (or one of the issues) that I discussed in the article above. Is fish loss due to climate change, or predominantly due to over-fishing? The BBC areticle that follows is heavy on climate change, light on facts, poor in terms of analysis, and ignores the over-fishing issue, while skirting around it:

    “How climate change threatens the economic backbone of the Pacific”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq57vxjvdy4o

    The vast Pacific Ocean and the islands dotted within it produce more than half of the world’s tuna.

    Among the islands are 33 scattered across the centre that encompass the country of Kiribati.

    Here more than 70% of government revenues come from selling tuna fishing licenses to foreign fleets – the highest proportion of any nation….

    …Yet, while the ocean is intimately linked to the culture, livelihoods and economy of Kiribati, it is also the country’s biggest threat.

    Warming water temperatures caused by climate change pose a substantial risk to local tuna populations, threatening Kiribati’s economic backbone.

    Scientists fear warmer waters could lead to tuna moving permanently out of its EEZ to cooler temperatures to the east, reducing the demand from overseas fleets for its fishing licenses, which would badly hit the country’s economy.

    The global tuna market is worth more than $44bn a year, according to one study., external

    To fish in Kiribati’s waters, foreign fleets must first obtain a licence from the government. Then they have to pay the required fees, and follow strict rules on catch limits and reporting hauls.

    The majority of these licences are sold to countries like Japan, China, the US and members of the European Union.

    Kiribati generated $137m (£102m) from selling fishing licenses in 2024, government figures showed. , externalThis income is a “critical financial lifeline”, says Riibeta Abeta, permanent secretary for the country’s Ministry of Fisheries.

    Abeta adds that such licenses contributed to almost three-quarters of government income between 2018 and 2022., external

    This equates to roughly two-fifths of the entirety of Kiribati’s GDP, according to the International Monetary Fund.…

    In other words, Kiribati has made itself hugely dependent on a single source of income (the sale of fishing licences (it’s with a “c”, BBC, not with an “s”, by the way – with an “s” it’s a verb, not a noun). The very source of income (industrial-scale fishing permits) that is likely to lead to the destruction of the stocks that generate the income. Despite obvious issues with over-fishing, the BBC chooses to discuss only the impacts of climate change on tuna stocks, based on modelling. It could have discussed this:

    “Trade Flow Analysis of Pacific Tuna Fisheries Final Report | September 7, 2023”

    https://indecon.com/wp-content/uploads/Final-Tuna-Supply-Report-090723.pdf

    …By both volume and value, Pacific tuna fisheries represent some of the largest fisheries in the world. They are managed by a complex system of regional fishery management organizations (RFMOs) and individual countries charged with and trusted to implement and enforce decisions made by those bodies. Tuna fisheries both historically and presently have been subject to many challenges, including overfishing, bycatch of marine mammals and other non-target species, uncontrolled impacts of fish aggregating devices (FADs), and human rights violations, among others. Given the broad array of individuals and countries engaged in catching, transshipping, processing, exporting, importing, and marketing tuna, as well as the vast geographic distribution of these activities, including fishing occurring on the High Seas outside national jurisdictions, it is challenging to track implementation and compliance with management decisions or enforce stated rules and policies. Certain individual companies hold significant control and leverage over global tuna trade flows from catch to distribution and are thus well-positioned to demand action to improve the sustainability of these fisheries. However, given the complexity of these trade flows, the number of participants, the global nature of the trade, and a significant lack of transparency and complete data reporting, it is difficult to pinpoint the actors with the most potential to effect real change.…

    Instead, we get this:

    …Tuna react to small changes in water temperature to within a tenth of a degree of celsius, adds Diffey. As the surface water temperature rises in the Pacific Ocean, the tuna will migrate to cooler areas.

    Numerous studies say that in the Pacific this migration will be eastwards,, external away from many island nations, including Kiribati….

    …Kiribati is predicted to be among the worst affected by tuna stock migration, according to a communique , externalissued last November by the regional development organisation, the Pacific Community.

    Kiribati’s Ministry of Fisheries says that preliminary modelling showed that it “could lose more than $10m in fishing access fees per year” by 2050 if global greenhouse gas emissions remained high….

    Ironically:

    ...The Kiribati government says it is expanding the country’s own tuna processing and canning facilities rather than just selling licences to foreign ships.

    Abeta says the administration is also developing ocean farming of species like milkfish, snapper and sea cucumbers to support exports and domestic food security.

    It is also seeking to diversify revenues beyond the sea economy through the likes of tourism, renewable energy and the country’s offshore sovereign wealth fund....

    Climate change is the problem, apparently. So the answer is to fly in more tourists, thereby increasing greenhouse gas emissions…

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  16. Kiribati folk face disappointment if they think net zero type so-called climate policies elsewhere are going to translate into better or longer lasting fish stocks any time soon, or at all.

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  17. Mark – from that link, as usual it ends with –

    “It is also seeking to diversify revenues beyond the sea economy through the likes of tourism, renewable energy and the country’s offshore sovereign wealth fund.

    “Kiribati retains grounds for optimism and strategic opportunity,” he says.

    Yet despite this hope, Kiribati and its territorial waters face an existential threat from climate change.”

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