Fisheries & Aquaculture
Global fish production reached 223 million tonnes in 2024 — a record. Aquaculture (farmed) overtook wild capture in 2022 and now accounts for 55% of the total. The wild-catch share that is fished at biologically unsustainable levels has risen from 10% (1974) to roughly 38% (2022) of monitored stocks.
Key insights
Aquaculture is now the bigger sector
Farmed fish production passed wild capture in 2022 and continues to grow at 4% a year while wild catch has been flat since the early 1990s. China alone produces 58% of global aquaculture output. Salmon, tilapia, carp, catfish, pangasius, shrimp and bivalve molluscs are the dominant species. Aquaculture's environmental footprint per kg of protein is generally lower than terrestrial livestock but varies widely by species and system.
Overfishing concentrated in specific stocks
FAO's SOFIA 2024 finds 62.3% of monitored stocks fished at biologically sustainable levels — meaning 37.7% are not. The fraction of unsustainably-fished stocks rose from 10% (1974) to a peak around 35% in the 2010s. Improvements in the Northeast Atlantic, Australia and New Zealand contrast with deterioration in the Mediterranean, Black Sea and many West African and Asian fisheries.
IUU fishing dilutes management efforts
Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing accounts for an estimated 11–26 million tonnes a year — 14–33% of legal catch. The EU IUU regulation, US SIMP and emerging port state measures via FAO's Port State Measures Agreement have tightened enforcement. Satellite monitoring (Global Fishing Watch, AIS data) has transformed visibility but coverage gaps remain near transhipment hotspots.
Global fish production — wild capture vs aquaculture
Million tonnes (live weight)
Key Finding: Aquaculture overtook capture fisheries in 2022. Wild catch has been roughly flat at 90 Mt since 1990.
Top aquaculture species (2024)
Production in million tonnes, live weight
Key Finding: Filter-feeding carp and mollusks dominate by tonnage; salmon and shrimp dominate by traded value.
Methodology & caveats
Live weight vs edible weight
Catches and production are typically reported in live weight (the whole fish). Trade and consumption figures use product weight (gutted, filleted, processed). Conversion factors vary by species — roughly 0.45 for whole salmon to fillet.
Stock status definitions
FAO classifies stocks as 'maximally sustainably fished', 'underfished' or 'overfished' relative to maximum sustainable yield (MSY) reference points. Only ~50% of global catch comes from monitored stocks. Unmonitored stocks (mostly small-scale fisheries in low-income countries) likely have worse status than the global average.
Aquaculture is heterogeneous
Industrial salmon farming, smallholder pond polyculture and offshore mussel rope culture are all 'aquaculture' but have very different environmental and social footprints. Fish-in/fish-out ratios (how much wild-caught feed fish per kg of farmed fish) range from 0 (filter feeders, herbivorous fish) to >3 (some salmon and shrimp). Aggregate growth figures hide this variation.