World fisheries production explained

See also: Fishing by country. The global commercial production for human use of fish and other aquatic organisms occurs in two ways: they are either captured wild by commercial fishing or they are cultivated and harvested using aquacultural and farming techniques.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the world production in 2005 consisted of 93.2 million tonnes captured by commercial fishing in wild fisheries, plus 48.1 million tonnes produced by fish farms. In addition, 1.3 million tons of aquatic plants (seaweed etc.) were captured in wild fisheries and 14.8 million tons were produced by aquaculture.[1] The number of individual fish caught in the wild has been estimated at 0.97-2.7 trillion per year (not counting fish farms or marine invertebrates).[2]

Marine and inland fisheries

World capture production 2007 in thousands of tonnes[3]
Inland fisheriesMarine fisheriesTotals
Freshwater fish8,695238,718
3411,4441,785
Marine fishes8265,62765,709
Crustaceans4745,3675,840
Mollusks3837,1827,564
Other 61388449
Totals10,03580,02990,064

Capture production by species

The following table shows the capture production by groups of species (fish, crustaceans, molluscs, etc.) in tonnes.

Capture production by groups of species in tonnes
TypeGroup1999200020012002200320042005
Freshwater fishCarps, barbels and other cyprinids616,828574 405569 934616 985624 333594 392648 160
Freshwater fishTilapias and other cichlids636,758680 004678 157662 276689 661754 395753 372
Freshwater fishMiscellaneous freshwater fishes5,592,3295 634 0055 733 3415 400 5306 234 4486 277 5656 797 864
FinfishSturgeons, paddlefishes2,851 2 603 2 3131 9081 6281 4501 333
Freshwater fishRiver eels11,93916 13812 37411 44410 51610 74610 463
FinfishSalmons, trouts, smelts913,327805 154891 042809 873966 097880 2611 031 141
Migratory fishShads788,770860 346665 284589 692524 800569 160605 548
FinfishMiscellaneous migratory fishes75,92183 32875 65079 53879 46568 07765 817
Demersal fishFlounders, halibuts, soles956,9261 009 253948 427915 177917 326862 162900 012
FinfishCods, hakes, haddocks9,431,1418 695 9109 304 9228 474 0449 385 3289 398 7808 964 873
FinfishMiscellaneous coastal fishes6,119,4126 112 1896 310 9046 315 7526 789 7327 002 0066 640 784
Demersal fishMiscellaneous demersal fishes2,955,8493 033 3843 008 2833 062 2223 059 7073 163 0502 986 081
Pelagic fishHerrings, sardines, anchovies22,671,42724 919 23920 640 73422 289 33218 840 38923 047 54122 404 769
Pelagic fishTunas, bonitos, billfishes5,943,5935 816 6475 782 8416 138 9996 197 0876 160 8686 243 122
Pelagic fishMiscellaneous pelagic fishes10,712,99410 654 04112 332 17011 772 32011 525 39011 181 87111 179 641
Sharks etc.Sharks, rays, chimaeras858,007870 455845 854845 820880 785819 012771 105
Other fishMarine fishes not identified10,721,53410 736 39810 599 12210 513 5509 714 6699 747 6259 565 512
CrustaceanFreshwater crustaceans494,111563 641626 407816 405366 117353 446391 526
CrustaceanCrabs, sea spiders1,061,0421 101 8801 093 2561 122 4141 334 0011 332 9321 323 616
CrustaceanLobsters, spiny rock lobsters229,179227 950222 138225 646225 793233 825231 233
CrustaceanKing crabs, squat lobsters77,64467 93246 38241 85343 99336 45752 064
CrustaceanShrimps, prawns3,028,1713 089 7552 957 7302 969 3113 545 3093 542 4383 416 533
CrustaceanKrill, planktonic crustaceans101,957114 425104 216125 989117 981118 164127 034
CrustaceanMiscellaneous marine crustaceans1,293,1641 372 8581 427 3121 359 158449 711486 249470 568
MolluscFreshwater molluscs552,452595 286628 205631 444435 668427 843415 105
MolluscAbalones, winkles, conchs121,414120 190131 429112 798121 844133 240120 400
MolluscOysters158,196249 675198 132185 122196 424150 088166 145
MolluscMussels207,470261 635240 718224 741186 062188 359143 182
MolluscScallops, pectens609,418665 569702 382750 445804 349790 887711 342
MolluscClams, cockles, ark shells841,658798 069822 520799 336899 362835 150705 649
MolluscSquids, cuttlefishes, octopuses3,602,7113 679 3323 348 4933 261 6153 612 3083 807 1893 892 145
MolluscMiscellaneous marine molluscs1,562,1411 509 7521 505 6081 486 114936 169988 2201 049 731
OtherFrogs and other amphibians1,8072 3282 4862 4632 9172 8362 845
OtherTurtles1,2431 0108181 4441 498408422
OtherSea squirts and other tunicates3,9053 8582 4272 3202 9512 4962 735
OtherHorseshoe crabs and other arthropods2,3971 6961 2991 3871 190519732
EchinodermSea urchins and other echinoderms121,567122 480107 460123 955107 109115 831100 063
OtherMiscellaneous aquatic invertebrates542,659556 787475 045454 572521 855278 097360 679
World total93 623 91295 609 60793 045 81593 197 99490 353 97294 363 63593 253 346

Projected production

The following table shows the fish production in 2004 and projections for 2010 and later simulation target years.[4] All figures, other than percentages, are in million tonnes.

2000200420102015202020202030
Information sourceFAO statistics[5] FAO statistics[6] SOFIA 2002[7] FAO study[8] SOFIA 2002IFPRI study[9] SOFIA 2002
Marine capture86.885.8868687
Inland capture8.89.2666
Total capture95.695.0931059311693
Aquaculture35.545.55374705483
Total production131.1140.5146179163170176
Food fish production96.9105.6120138130150
Percentage used for food fish74%75%82%85%77%85%
Non-food use34.234.826264026

Charts

See also

References

Notes and References

  1. http://www.fao.org/fishery/ FAO: Fisheries and Aquaculture
  2. A Mood and P Brooke (July 2010). Estimating the Number of Fish Caught in Global Fishing Each Year. FishCount.org.uk.
  3. [FAO]
  4. FAO (2005) Part 4.
  5. Based on the statistics available to the FAO Fishery Information, Data and Statistics Unit in 2000
  6. Based on latest statistics of the FAO Fishery Information, Data and Statistics Unit
  7. FAO (2002) The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2002. Rome.
  8. FAO (2004) Future prospects for fish and fishery products: medium-term projections to the years 2010 and 2015. FAO Fisheries Circular FIDI/972-1. Rome
  9. Delgado, C; Wada, N; Rosegrant, M; Meijer, S and Ahmed, M (2003) Fish to 2020: supply and demand in changing global markets. International Food Policy research Institute. Washington, DC.