I seem to recall hearing of buyers who keep two sets of books. The face of the FRT showed something, the back (didn't copy through...) showed something else. Pay less fish tax, less fish count against shares, etc. This was on the NI side. Those folks who worked the buyers to collect data saw all sorts of stuff. I would say that there wasn't any side that was scrupulously honest in reporting every fish and where it was caught. Some of the stories were pretty funny, actually, except for how management got mucked up.

I used the reported numbers to manage the fisheries. Used them to update the runsize, update the allocations, schedule fisheries, determine (and make) payback. When folks complain about how poorly the fisheries are managed remember that management is based on the numbers. If you report [Bleeeeep!] numbers, expect [Bleeeeep!] management.