1. What is the overall fisheries production?
- 1.1 How much is being fished?
- 1.2 How much is being fished in the world's oceans and seas?
- 1.3 What is the trend in open ocean catches?
- 1.4 How much is being fished in inland waters?
- 1.5 How much is produced by aquaculture?
Figure 1:
In 2002 the global production from fishing and aquaculture reached about 133 million tonnes. Capture fisheries are stagnating, but aquaculture production is expanding, and it accounted for close to 30% of overall production in 2002. Three quarters of this global production were used for human consumption, the rest mainly for animal feed. More...
1.1 How much is being fished?
Global fishery catches remained relatively stable from 1999 to 2002, which are the last four years for which complete statistics are available. In 2002, total capture fisheries production amounted to 93.2 million tonnes, with a first sale value of US$78 000 million. This represented about 70% of the total world fishery production in terms of quantity.
Table 1: World Fisheries production and utilization
Table 2: Fisheries Production and utilization:excluding China
Figure 4:
The fluctuations in the total number of tonnes caught were partly explained by increases and drops in catches of Peruvian anchoveta and drops in catches of other reduction species in the Southeast Pacific that are used for making fish meal and oil.
In terms of amounts caught, China and Peru were by far the top producers in 2002. The same ten countries have been in the top ten group from 1992 to 2002. At the end of this period, their cumulative catches represented 60% of the world total. More...
1.2 How much is being fished in the world's oceans and seas?
In 2002, over 90% of fishery catches came from oceans and seas. The average production from these marine capture fisheries over the past decade was 84 million tonnes, a slight increase over the preceding ten years (77 million tonnes). These figures include both species living on the continental shelf, such as anchoveta, and oceanic species, such as tuna.
It should be noted that the quantity of marine fish caught and discarded fell by several million tonnes during the last ten years. This was due to, among other things, improved selectivity of fishing gear and practices, as well as no-discard policies in some countries.
The most productive marine fishing areas are the Northwest and Southeast Pacific , although total catches in these areas decreased from 2000 to 2002. Catches also decreased substantially in the Eastern Central and Southwest Atlantic.
By contrast, catches grew in other fishing areas, mostly those in the tropical regions of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. In these areas, catches of fish species living in the open sea (such as tuna) continued to increase. Other fishing areas showed smaller changes in catches.
Anchoveta is by far the most caught marine species. After a peak in 2000, catches of anchoveta decreased in 2001 and then partly recovered in 2002, with catches of 9.7 million tonnes.
Other major fish species related to the herring family, such as Atlantic herring, Japanese anchovy, and European sardine, are strongly influenced by the variability of local environmental conditions and have, therefore, not shown a common catch trend.
In 2002, overall catches reached their lowest levels since 1967 for high value fish like cod, hake, and haddock, which belong to the Gadiformes group.
Total catches of tuna and tuna-like species exceeded 6 million tonnes for the first time in 2002. These catches represented 11% of the total value of landings for consumption. Catches of oceanic species occurring principally in high sea waters continue to increase (see Next Question).
Catches of the group including sharks, rays, and chimaeras have been stable at about 800 000 tonnes since 1996. However, the recent improvement in reporting the species breakdown of catches may mask a possible reduction of shark catches. Total catches of both marine crustaceans and molluscs declined slightly from their 2000 peak over the following two years. Trends in the catches of the three major squid species have shown marked variation since the low catches recorded in 1998. More...
1.3 What is the trend in open ocean catches?
Species caught in oceans or seas are classified as either
- oceanic species, which include
- species living or feeding on surface waters, referred to as epipelagic species, and
- deep-water species, or
- species living on the continental shelf.
In 2002, the share of oceanic catches reached 11% of global marine catches.
The considerable rise in the number of deep-water species reported since 2000 is probably more a result of the growing awareness and monitoring of deep-water fishing activities than of a dramatic increase in deep-water catches.
Catches of deep-water species were the highest ever in 2001 but decreased slightly in 2002.
Figure A:
In the case of surface water species, oceanic tuna catches reached an all-time maximum in 2002 after having decreased in the two previous years. Catches of other surface-water species, which are mainly oceanic squids, have been increasing steeply after a drop in 1998, and also reached a peak in 2002.
The marked increase in catches of oceanic species in recent decades was paralleled by a growth in their trade, especially in the form of tuna products. In 2002, the quantity of oceanic species traded reached about 3.6 million tonnes, which is a six-fold increase from the 1976 levels. More...
1.4 How much is being fished in inland waters?
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Figure 9:
In 2002, a little less than 10% of fishery catches came from inland waters. Total catches from inland waters have remained stable at around 8.7 million tonnes since 2000.
The bulk of the global catch from inland waters came from developing countries, with China alone accounting for 25% of the world total. Developed countries only contributed 6.1%.
When considering the relative contribution of different continents, the inland catches of Asia and Africa combined represent about 90% of the world total. From 2000 to 2002, inland catches increased the most in Africa and South America and decreased the most in Europe and North America.
Reporting of global inland catches continues to present a problem because of the lack of reliable information on catch quantities. In many countries, catches by rural communities – which are often the main users of the resource – are not reported in national statistics.
Table 3: Inland capture fisheries production
Moreover, current reporting of inland catch remains poor in many countries and does not allow for a detailed analysis of trends in catch composition. In 2002, about half of the global inland water catches were reported under the general category “freshwater fishes not elsewhere included” for want of adequate identification. China accounted for around 90% of reported world catches of freshwater crustaceans and molluscs. More...
1.5 How much is produced by aquaculture?
Thailand: Pens for rearing fish
Source: FAO photofile
The growth in aquaculture production has been much faster than that in capture fisheries or in any other animal-based sector of food production.
The contribution of aquaculture to global supplies of fish, crustaceans, and molluscs reached about 30% (39.8 million tonnes) in 2002 (see Table 1
Countries in Asia accounted for more than 90% of the quantity produced. China alone is reported to have contributed over 70%.
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Figure 12:
The rapid growth in production continued for the different major species groups, such as fish, molluscs, and aquatic plants. However, the growth was slightly slower than the extraordinary increase seen in the 1980s and 1990s.
Table 5: World aquaculture production
Table 6: Top ten species groups in aquaculture production
Production of carps and related fish far exceeded that of any other species group, accounting for 42% of the total aquaculture production. The largest relative increases in production are those of emerging activities, such as farming of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) and fattening of wild-caught tuna.
Depending on the salinity of the water environment, aquaculture is divided into freshwater culture, brackish-water culture, and mariculture. More than half of the aquaculture production of fish, crustaceans, and molluscs comes from freshwater environments. Mariculture contributes a little over one third of production.
Brackish-water production represented only 5.8 % in terms of quantity, but 15.9 % in terms of value, in 2002.This reflects the prominence of high-value crustaceans and fish.
Unlike terrestrial farming systems, where the bulk of global production is based on a more limited number of animal and plant species, over 220 different farmed aquatic animal and plant species were reported in 2002. Of these, the top ten species accounted for 69% of the total production, and the top 25 species for over 90%.
It is worth noting that the growth of aquaculture production has grown more in developing countries than in developed countries. In 1970, developing countries accounted for 59% of production, and this share rose to 91% by 2002. More...
