ISSN 1020-5489
The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture
The State of World
Fisheries and Aquaculture
Opportunities and challenges
FAO
Fisheries and aquaculture play a vital role in achieving FAOs Strategic Objectives
of eliminating hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition. As reported in this edition
of The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture, people have never consumed
so much fish or depended so greatly on the sector for their well-being as today.
As the demand for fish increases, the sector is also striving to be more productive
and sustainable and to enable more inclusive and efficient systems while reducing
rural poverty and enhancing the resilience of livelihoods to disasters, crises and
climate change.
Global fish production growth continues to outpace world population growth.
In 2012, while global marine capture fishery production was stable at about
80 million tonnes, global aquaculture production set another all-time high
at more than 90 million tonnes (including almost 24 million tonnes of aquatic
plants). Aquaculture remains one of the fastest-growing food-producing sectors and
is set to play a key role in meeting the rising demand for fishery products.
The proportion of assessed marine fish stocks fished within
biologically sustainable levels exceeded 70 percent in 2011, while fewer
than 30 percent of fish stocks were overfished. Of the stocks assessed, fully fished
stocks accounted for over 60 percent and underfished stocks about 10 percent.
The share of fisheries production used for direct human consumption
increased from about 70 percent in the 1980s to more than 85 percent
(136 million tonnes) in 2012.
With this increasing production and greater availability for consumers,
per capita fish consumption continues to rise up from 10 kg in the
1960s to more than 19 kg in 2012 driven by higher demand from a growing
population, rising incomes, and more efficient distribution channels.
Fish remains an ever-important source of energy, protein and a range of
essential nutrients, accounting for almost 17 percent of the global populations
intake of animal protein. Moreover, fish provided nearly 3 billion people with
2014
2014
2014
The State of World Fisheries
and Aquaculture 2014
June 2014
ISBN: 978-92-5-108275-1
ISSN: 1020-5489
223 pp.
210 297 mm
Also available in:
Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish
Subject categories:
Fisheries, aquaculture, food security,
food wastage, nutrition
KEY MESSAGES
World aquaculture production continues to grow and now provides
almost half of all fish for human consumption.
Fisheries and aquaculture supports the livelihoods of 1012 percent
of the worlds population, and provides a wide range of economic
opportunities.
As a concentrated source of protein, essential fatty acids and
micronutrients, fish is important for diversified and healthy diets.
Small-scale fisheries are gaining more global recognition as being
integral to growth but also highly vulnerable to impacts linked to issues
ranging from climate change to tenure disputes.
Reducing wastage especially post-harvest losses in small-scale fisheries
will make more fish available for food and boost use of by-products.
The Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, nearly 20 years on,
serves as an internationally accepted benchmark and framework for the
sustainable use of aquatic resources.
The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture,
the flagship publication of the FAO Fisheries and
Aquaculture Department, presents a global review
of fisheries and aquaculture including trends and
statistics. It highlights issues debated worldwide and
profiles future scenarios to provide readers with the
most current global view and perspectives on fisheries
and aquaculture.
Figure 31
Figure 2
Relative contribution of aquaculture and capture fisheries to food fish consumption
World fish utilization and supply
Percentage of fishery food supply (kg/capita)
Population (billions)
and food supply (kg/capita)
Fish utilization
(million tonnes)
100
21
140
90
80
120
18
Food
Non-food uses
Population
Food supply
70
15
60
100
50
80
12
60
40
20
40
30
20
10
0
1970
1976
1982
1988
1994
Aquaculture
2000
2006
2012
Capture
almost 20 percent of their intake of animal protein, and 4.3 billion
people with about 15 percent of such protein. Protein from fish is a
crucial nutritional component in some densely populated countries
where total protein intake levels may be low. Consuming fish is
particularly important during pregnancy and the first two years of
life and can help lower the risk of coronary heart disease mortality.
The fisheries and aquaculture sector is also a source of
employment and income, supporting the livelihoods of
1012percent of the worlds population.
In 2012, employment in the sector grew faster than the
worlds population, with almost 60 million people engaged in the
primary sector, 90 percent small-scale fishers and 15 percent of them
women. In post-harvest activities such as processing, women can
account for up to 90 percent of workers.
Fish remains among the most traded food commodities
worldwide, worth almost US$130 billion in 2012 and pointing to an
increase for 2013. The aggregate FAO Fish Price Index reached
a record high in October 2013. Trade in fish and fishery products
is especially important for developing nations, in some cases worth
over half of the total value of traded commodities. Developing
economies saw their share rise to 54 percent of total fishery
exports by value in 2012, and more than 60 percent by quantity (live
weight).
Almost 20 years since its adoption, the Code of Conduct
for Responsible Fisheries remains a benchmark for achieving
sustainable fisheries and aquaculture. Globally, the priority for
implementation of the Code is the establishment of responsible
fisheries with due consideration of relevant biological, technical,
economic, social, environmental and commercial aspects.
Within the broad ambit of governance, FAO is promoting
Blue Growth as a coherent framework for the sustainable,
integrated and socio-economically sensitive management of oceans
and wetlands, focusing on capture fisheries, aquaculture, ecosystem
services, trade and social protection of coastal communities.
0
50
55
60
65
70
75
80
85
90
95
00
05
12
In addition, FAO is coordinating the Global sustainable fisheries
management and biodiversity conservation in the Areas Beyond
National Jurisdiction Program, known as Common Oceans, to
promote efficient and sustainable management of fisheries and
biodiversity conservation.
At the same time, at global level, the contributions of smallscale fisheries to poverty alleviation and food and nutrition
security are being increasingly recognized, most notably in the
Rio+20 outcome document (The Future We Want), in the Voluntary
Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land,
Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security,
and in the development of the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing
Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and
Poverty Eradication.
Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing remains
a major threat to marine ecosystems, with many States striving to
implement the International Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and
Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing.
Other themes highlighted in The State of World Fisheries and
Aquaculture 2014 include: the role of aquaculture in improving
nutrition; the importance of reducing post-harvest losses in smallscale fisheries; and challenges and opportunities for utilization of
fisheries by-products. The Outlook section emphasizes approaches for
meeting future fish demand, underlining aquacultures increasingly
important role.
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