AFP Fact Check About The Blue Marlin Fish Caught By A Nigerian Man Not Worth $2.6M (Photos)

By Mod2   3 years ago   872
Opinion / Stories - Top Stories

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Social media posts shared thousands of times claim that a man in Nigeria caught a fish worth $2.6 million, and his village ate the fish instead of cashing in. However, the value of this fish is hugely overestimated. The $2.6 million figure can be traced to the prize money won at an annual fishing competition in the United States, and does not represent its market value. A witness told AFP Fact Check that the fish was sold off in pieces at an affordable price.

“A Nigerian man captured a fish worth $2.6 million. Him and his village people ate it (sic),” reads the caption of the Facebook post shared on March 9, 2021.

Similar posts have been shared thousands of times in South Africa. The post has also been shared on various blogs and on Twitter by the account Africa Facts Zone. This tweet was retweeted more than 5,500 times and received more than 13,000 likes.

The viral posts feature images of a man in yellow posing subsequent to a large fish. The photograph is followed by means of the screenshot of a CNBC article with the identify, “At a excessive-stakes match, a fortunate fisherman reels in $2.6 million in bloodless difficult coins”. Several of the social media posts and weblog headlines known as the network “ignorant” for consuming the fish.

The man in the pics
Some of the pictures inside the social media posts function a man in a yellow t-shirt, which led sure social media customers to claim that he's the fisherman who caught the fish. However, that is false. The man, named Zion Godwin, stated he become journeying a relative in a fishing settlement in the Andoni Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria whilst the fish turned into caught, but he became now not the fisherman.

“Actually, when the person delivered the fish all of the human beings there couldn't deliver the name of the fish. Some said is swordfish even as some stated is blue marlin (sic),” Godwin wrote to AFP Fact Check through WhatsApp.

It took about eight guys to hold the fish from the shore, he said. With assistance from locals and a Google search, they confirmed that it changed into a blue marlin.

“From my estimate, the fish is as much as seven toes by period. There is no gadget there to understand the load,” Godwin stated.

Godwin brought that the fisherman first tried to find a customer for the complete fish however changed into unable to discover every person, and ended up portioning it into six-inch pieces, which have been smoked and sold to locals.

“The smallest piece was sold from 2,000 naira ($five.25) while the larger portions changed into in addition divided to low-cost charge (sic),” said Godwin.

The value of a blue marlin
The alleged $2.6 million price of the fish become taken from a July 2019 article via CNBC on “the excessive-stakes international of event sports fishing”. However, this fee is excessive above the market fee of marlin fish.

The White Marlin Open in Ocean City, Maryland inside the US is a week-lengthy fishing competition held each August. It’s been jogging for nearly five a long time.

According to the object, the $2.6 million payout was for the biggest white marlin caught all through the 2018 opposition; the largest blue marlin received a prize of $924,000. The fish in Nigeria is a blue marlin, so even within the competition, the prize become not $2.6 million.

“Every year the multimillion-dollar jackpot is divided across extra than a dozen prizes. In 2018, it protected a head-spinning $904,000 payout for the biggest tuna, a $924,000 prize for the biggest blue marlin — and the $2.6 million mega-payout for the largest white marlin reeled in,” the CNBC article explains.

The competition organisers confirmed with AFP Fact Check that the Nigerian fisherman could not have raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars for his seize.

“In the US, there is not a business marketplace for blue marlin. This fish might handiest have cost if stuck in a event that offers prize cash for blue marlin,” said Madelyne Rowan, event director.

Furthermore, tournaments have steep access fees.

“In order for a blue marlin to have the ability to be worth one million bucks inside the White Marlin Open, approximately $20,000 in entry costs might want to be paid,” Rowan added.

Sean Amor, a captain for Hooked on Africa fishing charters in South Africa, agreed with Rowan. Amor has over two many years of fishing experience and instructed AFP Fact Check that the market fee for marlin would never sell for hundreds of thousands of greenbacks.

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[NewsNaira]


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Amos James Gbaja
3 years ago

This man na strong man


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Eric Kingsley
3 years ago

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Olaniyan Basiru
3 years ago

Wooowww d man is strong oo


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Emmanuel
3 years ago

Nigerian man captured a fish worth


(Quote) (Likes)
Joel Chibuike
3 years ago

How did he catch it


(Quote) (Likes)

This man na strong man


(Quote)

 

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