Seafood Production - Our World in Data

6/10/2021 Seafood Production - Our World in Data
Seafood Production
by Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser
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Summary
Increasing pressures on fish populations mean one-third of global fish stocks are overexploited – this
has increased from 10% in the 1970s. ↓ jump to section
The world now produces more than 155 million tonnes of seafood each year. ↓ jump to section
There are large differences in per capita fish consumption across the world. ↓ jump to section
The world now produces more seafood from aquaculture (fish farming) than from wild catch. This has
played a key role in alleviating pressure on wild fish populations. ↓ jump to section
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What share of fish stocks are

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One-third of global fish stocks are overexploited

A key concern for the sustainability of global patterns of seafood consumption has been the overexploitation of wild
fish stocks. If the amount of wild fish we catch exceeds the rate at which fish can reproduce and replenish,
populations will decline over time. Such populations we would call ‘overexploited’.
This is based on a metric called the ‘maximum sustainable yield’ (MSY) – the upper limit to the amount of fish we
can harvest without depleting the existing resource. If fishing rates are lower than the MSY, a stock is defined as
biologically sustainable. If harvest is higher than the MSY, it is overexploited.
In the visualization here we see the share of global fish stocks which are overexploited and the share that are
biologically sustainable. Sustainable stocks have fallen from 90% in the 1970s to 66% in 2017.1 One-third of global
fish stocks are now overexploited.
We can also see, however, that most of the decline in sustainable fish populations occurred through the 1970s and
1980s. Over the past few decades there has been a marked slowdown – or plateauing – of overexploitation. This is
in part owed to the fact that increased demand has instead been met by aquaculture (fish farming) rather than wild
catch.
It’s estimated that 79% of current fish landings come from biologically sustainable stocks.2
Status of the world's fish stocks
Fish stocks are overexploited when fish catch exceeds the maximum sustainable yield (MSY) – the rate at which fish
populations can regenerate.
100%
80%
Biologically
sustainable
60%
40%
20%
Overexploited
0%
1974 1980 1990 2000 2010 2017
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
OurWorldInData.org/seafood-production • CC BY
Note: Fish stock are subpopulations of a particular species ofwe
fishassume you
which have agree
common to this. such as location, growth and mortality which define
parameters
their population dynamics.
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Manage preferences I agree
Global seafood production
Seafood and fish production, World
Change country/region Relative
Cephalopods
140 million t Molluscs (other)
Crustaceans
120 million t
Marine fish (other)
100 million t Demersal fish
80 million t
Pelagic fish
60 million t
40 million t
Freshwater fish
20 million t
0t
1961 1970 1980 1990 2000 2013
Source: UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)
How much seafood do we consume?

Fish and seafood consumption per capita, 2017
Data is inclusive of all fish species and major seafood commodities, including crustaceans, cephalopods and other
mollusc species.
World
0 kg 5 kg 10 kg 30 kg 50 kg 100 kg
No data 2.5 kg 7.5 kg 20 kg 40 kg 75 kg 200 kg
Source: UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

Note: Data is based on per capita food supply at the consumer level, but does not account for food waste at the consumer level.
1961 2017
CHART MAP TABLE SOURCES DOWNLOAD
How is our seafood produced?

IN THIS SECTION
The world now produces more seafood from fish farms than wild catch
Capture (wild) fishery catch
Aquaculture production
The world now produces more seafood from fish farms

than wild catch
Global production of fish and seafood has quadrupled over the past 50 years. Not only has the world population
more than doubled over this period, the average person now eats almost twice as much seafood as half a century
ago.
This has increased pressure on fish stocks across the world. Globally, the share of fish stocks which are
overexploited – meaning we catch them faster than they can reproduce to sustain population levels – has more than
doubled since the 1980s and this means that current levels of wild fish catch are unsustainable.
One innovation has helped to alleviate some of the pressure on wild fish catch: aquaculture, the practice of fish and
seafood farming. The distinction between farmed fish and wild catch is similar to the difference between raising
livestock rather than hunting wild animals. Except that for land-based animals, farming is many thousand years old
while it was very uncommon for seafood until just over 50 years ago.
In the visualizations we see the change in aquaculture and capture fishery production from 1960 onwards. What’s
striking is that global wild fish catch has not increased since the early 1990s and instead remained relatively
constant at around 90 to 95 million tonnes per year. Fish farming on the other hand is growing very rapidly, from
1960 until 2015 it has increased 50-fold to over 100 million per year.
In the 1960s, aquaculture was relatively niche, with an output of a few million tonnes per year. Particularly since the
late 1980s, annual production has increased rapidly. In 1990 the world produced only 17 million tonnes. It now
produces over 100 million tonnes.
As we see, aquaculture production has now surpassed wild catch. It has absorbed almost all of the growth in global
demand in recent decades and will continue to play a critical role in protecting wild fish populations as demand for
seafood continues to rise.
Seafood production: wild fish catch vs aquaculture, World, 1960 to
2015
Aquaculture is the farming of aquatic organisms including fish, molluscs, crustaceans and aquatic plants. Capture
fishery production is the volume of wild fish catches landed for all commercial, industrial, recreational and
subsistence purposes.
Change country
Aquaculture
100 million t
Capture fisheries
80 million t
60 million t
40 million t
20 million t
0t
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2015
OurWorldInData.org/meat-and-seafood-production-consumption/ • CC BY
1960 2015
Seafood production: wild fish catch vs aquaculture, World
Aquaculture is the farming of aquatic organisms including fish, molluscs, crustaceans and aquatic plants.
Capture fishery production is the volume of wild fish catches landed for all commercial, industrial,
recreational and subsistence purposes.
Change country
150 million t Aquaculture

production
100 million t
50 million t Capture fisheries
0t
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2015
Capture (wild) fishery catch

One of the charts presents FAO wild fishery catch data, broken down by region. Here we see a steady increase in
fishery catch until the mid-1990s, when this trend typically levels out in the range of 90-95 million tonnes per year.
In the other chart we present revised data published in Nature by Pauly and Zeller (2016).3
Here, the authors argue that catch from small-scale fisheries is typically under-reported to, and published by the
FAO. The authors write:
“This data set, however, may not only underestimate artisanal (that is, small scale, commercial) and
subsistence fisheries, but also generally omit the catch of recreational fisheries, discarded bycatch and
We use cookies
illegal andtootherwise
give you the best experience
unreported on our
catch, even website.
when some By continuing
estimates without changing
are available. your for
Thus, except cookie settings,
a few
we assume
obvious cases of over-reporting, the landings datayou agree to
updated andthis.
disseminated annually by the FAO on
behalf of member countries may considerably underestimate actual fisheries catch.”
The authors’ revised figures therefore show significantly higher fishery catch which peaks around 1996 at 130
million tonnes, before declining to 109 million tonnes in 2010. Although different in magnitude to that of FAO
figures, these revised trends support the trend of a global maximum in wild fishery catch (but now with a significant
decline). As shown in both charts, the majority of this decline has resulted from falling industrial catch; small-scale
artisanal catch actually increased over this period.
Capture fishery production
Capture (wild) fishery production, measured in metric tons per year.
Add country/region Relative
Middle East &

North Africa
Sub-Saharan
Africa
80 million t North America
Latin America &

Caribbean
60 million t Europe & Central

Asia
South Asia
40 million t
20 million t East Asia & Pacific
0t
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2016
Source: UN Food and Agriculture Organization
Global fishery catch by sector
Breakdown of global wild fishery catch by sector. This relates only to wild fishery catch, and does not
include aquaculture (fish farming) production.
Relative
120 million
Discards
100 million Recreational
Subsistence
Artisanal
(small-scale
80 million commercial)
60 million
40 million Industrial
(large-scale
commercial)
20 million
0
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Source: Pauly and Zeller (2016)
Global wild fishery catch by sector
Breakdown of global wild fishery catch by sector. This relates only to wild fishery catch, and does not include
aquaculture (fish farming) production.
80 million t
Industrial (large-scale commercial)
60 million t
40 million t
Artisanal (small-scale commercial)

20 million t
Discards
Subsistence
Recreational
0t
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Source: Pauly and Zeller (2016)
CC BY
1950 2010
Aquaculture is the farming of aquatic organisms including fish, molluscs, crustaceans and aquatic plants. Aquaculture
production specifically refers to output from aquaculture activities, which are designated for final harvest for
consumption.
Add country Relative change
East Asia & Pacific
80 million t
60 million t
40 million t
South Asia
20 million t Europe & Central Asia
Latin America & Caribbean
Middle East & North Africa
North America
Sub-Saharan Africa
0t
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2016
Source: UN Food and Agriculture Organization
1960 2016
Data Sources
UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) database

Data: Covers Production-level data in terms of kilograms of meat & seafood by type; livestock numbers and
yields; and per capita food supply of animal products
Geographical coverage: Global – by country and world region
We use cookies
Time span:to give
Sinceyou the best experience on our website. By continuing without changing your cookie settings,
1961
Available at: Online at FAOSTAT here. we assume you agree to this.
UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) FishStat Database

Data: Capture fishery and aquaculture production and consumption data by country and species
Geographical coverage: Global, Regional and by country
Time span: 1961-present
Available at: Online here.
Endnotes
1. FAO. 2020. The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2020. Sustainability in action. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/ca9229en.
2. FAO. 2020. The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2020. Sustainability in action. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/ca9229en.
3. Pauly D, Zeller D (2016) Catch reconstructions reveal that global marine fisheries catches are higher than reported and declining. Nature
Communications 7: 10244. Available online.
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Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser (2019) - "Seafood Production". Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from:
'https://ourworldindata.org/seafood-production' [Online Resource]
BibTeX citation
@article{owidseafoodproduction,
author = {Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser},
title = {Seafood Production},
journal = {Our World in Data},
year = {2019},
note = {https://ourworldindata.org/seafood-production}
}
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6/10/2021 Seafood Production - Our World in Data

Reuse our work freely Cite this research

Related research entries

What share of fish stocks are

overexploited? Manage preferences I agree

One-third of global fish stocks are overexploited

Status of the world's fish stocks

populations can regenerate.

CHART TABLE SOURCES DOWNLOAD

Global seafood production

Seafood and fish production, World

Change country/region Relative

140 million t Molluscs (other)

100 million t Demersal fish

CHART TABLE SOURCES DOWNLOAD

How much seafood do we consume?

Manage preferences I agree

Fish and seafood consumption per capita, 2017

Source: UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

CHART MAP TABLE SOURCES DOWNLOAD

How is our seafood produced?

Manage preferences I agree

The world now produces more seafood from fish farms

Manage preferences I agree

Seafood production: wild fish catch vs aquaculture, World, 1960 to

CHART TABLE SOURCES DOWNLOAD

Manage preferences I agree

Seafood production: wild fish catch vs aquaculture, World

recreational and subsistence purposes.

150 million t Aquaculture

50 million t Capture fisheries

CHART TABLE SOURCES DOWNLOAD

Capture (wild) fishery catch

Capture fishery production

Capture (wild) fishery production, measured in metric tons per year.

Add country/region Relative

Middle East &

Latin America &

60 million t Europe & Central

20 million t East Asia & Pacific

CHART MAP TABLE SOURCES DOWNLOAD

Manage preferences I agree

Global fishery catch by sector

include aquaculture (fish farming) production.

CHART TABLE SOURCES DOWNLOAD

Manage preferences I agree

Global wild fishery catch by sector

aquaculture (fish farming) production.

Artisanal (small-scale commercial)

CHART TABLE SOURCES DOWNLOAD

Manage preferences I agree

Add country Relative change

East Asia & Pacific

CHART MAP TABLE SOURCES DOWNLOAD

UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) database

Manage preferences I agree

UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) FishStat Database

Reuse our work freely

All of our charts can be embedded in any site.

author = {Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser},

title = {Seafood Production},

journal = {Our World in Data},

Manage preferences I agree

Our World in Data is free and accessible for everyone.