As Fisheries Stagnate, Aquaculture Keeps Expanding

Global fisheries and aquaculture production totalled 223.2 million tonnes in 2022 according to a report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. That's more than double the 1990 level, as fish and other types of marine animals play an integral role in global food security and nutrition, while providing a livelihood to tens of millions of households around the world.

Surging global demand has been at odds with efforts to avoid overfishing and preserve marine wildlife. This is why the role of aquaculture has massively increased over the past three decades while fishery captures have remained relatively stable. In 2024, 53 percent of the world's supply of fish, crustaceans and molluscs was farmed rather than caught, up from 13 percent in 1990 and 26 percent in 2000. While carp, salmon, oysters and shrimp are among the species often farmed in aquaculture, anchovies, pollock, tuna, herring and cod are still mostly captured in the wild.

According to the FAO, around 89 percent of the global production of aquatic animals were used for human consumption, with the remaining 11 percent largely used to produce fishmeal and fish oil. In 2020, China was the biggest producer of fish and other marine animals by far at 36 percent of the world total. The country accounted for 15 percent of global capture, while all of Asia accounted for 85 percent of the nearly 62 million jobs in fisheries and aquaculture worldwide.