same reason you would lie about the total amount of vessels in the first place.

here are 1/10 of the Chinese fishing fleet - 1/10! just outside of the Galapagos Islands. the Chinese say they have 2,600 vessels - weird how exactly 260 of those are just off the coast of a UNESCO World Heritage site fishing illegally. yes, the boatrs in international waters, but their fishing lines aren't.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariellasimke/2020/08/09/over-20...

it's not "inconsistent propaganda" it's under-reporting and outright lying, which is par for the course when it comes to the CCP.