Interesting Fishing Facts

Interesting facts from the IGFA -- Did You Know?

This month the IGFA features recently released figures from The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Fisheries and Aquaculture Department has just released The State of the World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2008. Some interesting facts from the recent report (all values annual totals for the year 2006):

Catch
Global capture fisheries production was about 92 million tonnes.

Value
Our calculations indicate that is equivalent to the weight of 18.4 million elephants or 46 million SUVs (all these SUVs lined up would stretch five times around the earth at the equator).
Global fish capture production first sale value is estimated at US $91.2 billion.

Countries
Top five countries in world capture production:
• China
• Peru
• United States of America
• Indonesia
• Japan

• Asian countries accounted for 52% of global
capture production.

People
• 43.5 million people are directly engaged, part time or full time, in primary production of fish (including fish capture from the wild and aquaculture) with an additional four million people engaged on an occasional basis.
• For each person employed in the primary sector, it is estimated there are four employed in the secondary sector (fish processing, marketing and service industries), indicating employment of about 170 million people in the industry as a whole.
• If you consider the number of dependants, about 520 million people could be dependent on the sector, that’s about 8% of the world population.

Species/Stocks
The top five marine species for capture production:
• Anchoveta
• Alaska pollock
• Skipjack tuna
• Atlantic herring
• Blue herring

• Overall, 80% of the world fish stocks for which assessment information is available are reported as fully exploited or overexploited.
• Quote from text: “As stated before in The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture, the maximum wild capture fisheries potential from the world’s ocean has probably been reached, and a more closely controlled approach to fisheries management is required, particularly for some highly migratory, straddling and other fishery resources that are exploited solely or partially in the high seas.”
These values do not include data from recreational fisheries, bycatch or illegal, unreported, unregulated catches.