The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2014
18
Inland fisheries are also important in Africa, where one-third 2.7 million tonnes of total capture fisheries production comes from inland waters. The numerous
populations living near the Great Lakes Victoria, Tanganyika and Malawi and major rivers Nile, Niger, Congo, etc. depend primarily on fish for their protein intake. The
“Value of African Fisheries” study see Box 1 highlights the importance of inland fisheries in terms of value and employment.
The total inland waters catch in the other continents is stable at about 0.58 million and 0.38 million tonnes for the Americas and Europe including the Russian
Federation, respectively, and 18 000 tonnes in Oceania.
AQUACULtUre
World aquaculture production continues to grow, albeit at a slowing rate. According to the latest available statistics collected globally by FAO, world aquaculture production
attained another all-time high of 90.4 million tonnes live weight equivalent in 2012 US144.4 billion, including 66.6 million tonnes of food fish US137.7 billion and
23.8 million tonnes of aquatic algae mostly seaweeds, US6.4 billion. In addition, some countries also reported collectively the production of 22 400 tonnes of non-food
products US222.4 million, such as pearls and seashells for ornamental and decorative uses. For this analysis, the term “food fish” includes finfishes, crustaceans, molluscs,
amphibians, freshwater turtles and other aquatic animals such as sea cucumbers, sea urchins, sea squirts and edible jellyfish produced for the intended use as food for
human consumption. At the time of writing, some countries including major producers such as China and the Philippines had released their provisional or final official
aquaculture statistics for 2013. According to the latest information, FAO estimates that world food fish aquaculture production rose by 5.8 percent to 70.5 million tonnes
in 2013, with production of farmed aquatic plants including mostly seaweeds being estimated at 26.1 million tonnes. In 2013, China alone produced 43.5 million tonnes of
food fish and 13.5 million tonnes of aquatic algae. Table 5
Inland waters capture: major producer countries
2012 Ranking
Country Continent
2003 2011
2012
Variation
2003–2012 2011–2012
Tonnes Percentage
1 China
Asia 2 135 086
2 232 221 2 297 839
7.6 2.9
2 India
Asia 757 353
1 061 033 1 460 456
92.8 37.6
3 Myanmar
Asia 290 140
1 163 159 1 246 460
329.6 7.2
4 Bangladesh
Asia 709 333
1 054 585 957 095
34.9 –9.2
5 Cambodia
Asia 308 750
445 000 449 000
45.4 0.9
6 Uganda
Africa 241 810
437 415 407 638
68.6 –6.8
7 Indonesia
Asia 308 656
368 578 393 553
27.5 6.8
8 United Republic of
Tanzania Africa
301 855 290 963
314 945 4.3
8.2 9
Nigeria Africa
174 968 301 281
312 009 78.3
3.6 10
Brazil Americas
227 551 248 805
266 042 16.9
6.9 11
Russian Federation EuropeAsia
190 712 249 140
262 548 37.7
5.4 12
Egypt Africa
313 742 253 051
240 039 –23.5
–5.1 13
Thailand Asia
198 447 224 708
222 500 12.1
–1.0 14
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Africa 230 365
217 000 214 000
–7.1 –1.4
15 Viet Nam
Asia 208 872
206 100 203 500
–2.6 –1.3
total 15 major countries 6 597 640
8 753 039 9 247 624
40.2 5.7
world total 8 611 840
11 124 401 11 630 320
35.1 4.5
Share 15 major countries percentage 76.6
78.7 79.5
World review of fisheries and aquaculture
19
The total farmgate value of global aquaculture has probably been overstated owing to factors such as some countries reporting retail, product or export prices
instead of prices at first sale. Nonetheless, when used at aggregated levels, the value data are useful in showing the development trend and for comparison of the relative
importance of economic benefit among different types of aquaculture and different groups of farmed aquatic species.
The global trend of aquaculture development gaining importance in total fish supply has remained uninterrupted. Farmed food fish contributed a record 42.2 percent
of the total 158 million tonnes of fish produced by capture fisheries including for non- food uses and aquaculture in 2012 Figure 5. This compares with just 13.4 percent
in 1990 and 25.7 percent in 2000. Asia as a whole has been producing more farmed fish than wild catch since 2008, and its aquaculture share in total production reached
54 percent in 2012, with Europe at 18 percent and other continents at less than 15 percent.
20 40
60 80
100 120
140 160
180 200
3 6
9 12
15
10 20
30 40
50
30 60
90 120
150
5 10
15 20
25
0.0 0.2
0.4 0.6
0.8 1.0
1.2 1.4
1.6 1.8
2.0
Figure 5 Share of aquaculture in total ish production
Million tonnes
Europe Africa
Million tonnes Percentage
Million tonnes Percentage
Million tonnes Percentage
Million tonnes Percentage
Million tonnes Percentage
Million tonnes Percentage
World
Oceania Americas
Asia
Aquaculture Capture
Contribution of aquaculture percentage
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
90 100
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
90 100
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
90 100
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
90 100
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
90 100
90 92
94 96
98 00
02 04
06 08
10 12
90 92
94 96
98 00
02 04
06 08
10 12
90 92
94 96
98 00
02 04
06 08
10 12
90 92
94 96
98 00
02 04
06 08
10 12
90 92
94 96
98 00
02 04
06 08
10 12
90 92
94 96
98 00
02 04
06 08
10 12
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
90 100
The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2014
20
The overall growth in aquaculture production remains relatively strong owing to the increasing demand for food fish among most producing countries. However,
aquaculture output by some industrialized regional major producers, most notably the United States of America, Spain, France, Italy, Japan and the Republic of Korea, has
fallen in recent years. A decline in finfish production is common to all these countries, while mollusc production has also decreased in some of them. The availability of
fish imported from other countries where production costs are relatively low is seen as a major reason for such production falls. The resulting fish supply gap in
the aforementioned countries has been one of the drivers encouraging production expansion in other countries with a strong focus on export-oriented species.
World food fish aquaculture production expanded at an average annual rate of 6.2 percent in the period 2000–2012, more slowly than in the periods 1980–1990
10.8 percent and 1990–2000 9.5 percent. Between 1980 and 2012, world aquaculture production volume increased at an average rate of 8.6 percent per year. World food
fish aquaculture production more than doubled from 32.4 million tonnes in 2000 to 66.6 million tonnes in 2012.
Table 6 Aquaculture production by region: quantity and percentage of world total production
Selected groups and countries
1990 1995
2000 2005
2010 2012
Africa
tonnes
81 015 110 292
399 688 646 182
1 286 591 1 485 367
percentage
0.62 0.45
1.23 1.46
2.18 2.23
North Africa
tonnes
63 831 75 316
343 986 545 217
928 530 1 030 675
percentage
0.49 0.31
1.06 1.23
1.57 1.55
Sub-Saharan Africa
tonnes
17 184 34 976
55 702 100 965
358 062 454 691
percentage
0.13 0.14
0.17 0.23
0.61 0.68
Americas
tonnes
548 479 919 571
1 423 433 2 176 740
2 581 089 3 187 319
percentage
4.19 3.77
4.39 4.91
4.37 4.78
Caribbean
tonnes
12 169 28 260
39 704 29 790
37 301 28 736
percentage
0.09 0.12
0.12 0.07
0.06 0.04
Latin America
tonnes
179 367 412 650
799 234 1 478 443
1 885 965 2 565 107
percentage
1.37 1.69
2.47 3.34
3.19 3.85
North America
tonnes
356 943 478 661
584 495 668 507
657 823 593 476
percentage
2.73 1.96
1.80 1.51
1.11 0.89
Asia
tonnes
10 801 531 21 677 062
28 420 611 39 185 417
52 436 025 58 895 736
percentage
82.61 88.90
87.67 88.46
88.82 88.39
China
tonnes
6 482 402 15 855 653
21 522 095 28 120 690
36 734 215 41 108 306
percentage
49.58 65.03
66.39 63.48
62.22 61.69
Central and Western Asia
tonnes
72 164 65 602
122 828 190 654
259 781 311 133
percentage
0.55 0.27
0.38 0.43
0.44 0.47
Southern and Eastern Asia
excluding China tonnes
4 246 965 5 755 807
6 775 688 10 874 073
15 442 028 17 476 296
percentage
32.48 23.61
20.90 24.55
26.16 26.23
europe
tonnes
1 601 649 1 581 359
2 052 567 2 137 340
2 548 094 2 880 641
percentage
12.25 6.49
6.33 4.83
4.32 4.32
European Union
Member Organization 28
tonnes
1 033 857 1 182 098
1 400 667 1 269 958
1 280 236 1 259 971
percentage
7.91 4.85
4.32 2.87
2.17 1.89
Other European countries
tonnes
567 792 399 261
651 900 867 382
1 267 858 1 620 670
percentage
4.34 1.64
2.01 1.96
2.15 2.43
oceania
tonnes
42 005 94 238
121 482 151 466
185 617 184 191
percentage
0.32 0.39
0.37 0.34
0.31 0.28
world
tonnes
13 074 679 24 382 522
32 417 781 44 297 145
59 037 416 66 633 253
Notes: Data exclude aquatic plants and non-food products. Data for 2012 for some countries are provisional and subject to revisions. For the purpose of this table, Cyprus, classified as part of Asia by FAO, is included under Europe as one of
the 28 members of European Union Member Organization. Details about countries and territories included under georegions for statistics purposes by FAO are available at: http:unstats.un.orgunsdmethodsm49m49regin.htm
