Fisheries & Aquaculture- At a Glance
is derived from animals low on the food chain such as herbivorous, omnivorous fish, and mollusks.
Capture fisheries and aquaculture are significant economic engines of the Blue Economy. Global production of aquatic animals was estimated at 178 million tons in 2020, a slight decrease from the record of 179 million tons in 2018. Capture fisheries contributed 90 million tons (51%) and aquaculture nearly the same amount at 88 million tons (49%). According to the FAO , in 2020, an estimated 58.5 million people were engaged as full-time, part-time, occasional, or unspecified workers in fisheries and aquaculture, and of these approximately 21% were women. By sector, 35% were employed in aquaculture and 65% in capture fisheries. Official statistics, however, do not include illegal fishing activities and the magnitude of artisanal fishing is considerable. Based on estimates of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) , artisanal fishing comprises 90% of all fishing jobs worldwide, approximately 45% of the world's fisheries, and nearly a quarter of the world catch, leading to a value added of artisanal capture fisheries of around USD 18 billion annually, mostly from artisanal fisheries in Africa and Asia.
Fisheries are often a combination of traditional artisanal fishery systems for the poor and technologically advanced systems for others . Fish account for nearly 20% of the average animal protein intake of 3.2 billion people. According to FAO , total fish production is expected to increase from 179 million tons in 2018 to 204 million tons in 2030, of which aquaculture is expected to account for 109 million tons. Reports over the last few years have indicated that the proportion of fisheries that are fully fished, overfished, or recovering from overfishing increased from just over 6 0% in the mid 1970s to 75% in 2005 to almost 90% in 2013.
Globally, aquaculture produced 82.1 million tons of aquatic animals in 2018 according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The value of farmed fish was higher, around US$250 billion compared with $151 billion for wild-caught fish. Aquaculture production of animals is projected to increase by one-third by 2030, reaching 109 million tons, and will supply most of the aquatic protein in people’s diets by 2050. Aquatic plants such as seaweed are also a valuable resource for aquaculture as they provide nutrition, livelihood, and other important industrial uses. Based on its dynamic performance over the last 30 years, and with stable catches from capture fisheries, it is likely that the future growth of the fisheries sector will come from aquaculture.