Fish by numbers

As we dive into this topic of fish, their future and ours, and the literal and figurative costs of it all, I thought I’d throw some numbers on the table. Roughly every two years the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) releases its State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture report in order to track what sort of fish the world is consuming and producing and how the fare is faring. The most recent was issued in 2009. Below are some stats that help outline the larger story we’re aiming to tackle.

•    The tonnage of fish supplied to the world as food: 110 million
•    The tonnage of fish harvested and used for non-food purposes: 33.3 million
•    When considering total world fresh and marine fishery production, the tonnage produced through capture and aquaculture respectively: 92 million and 51.7 million (numbers rounded, according to FAO)
•    When divvied up equally, the food fish available worldwide per capita in pounds: 36.8
•    The number of people worldwide for whom fish provided at least 15 percent of their animal protein intake: roughly 2.9 billion
•    Fresh verses processed fish destined for human consumption, their respective percentages: 48.5 and 54
•    The number of people worldwide employed, part or full time, in the primary production of fish (wild and aquaculture): 43.5 million
•    The respective number and percentage of the world population economically dependent on some aspect of the fishing industry: 520 million and 8
•    Of fishers and fish farmers worldwide, the percentage who live in Asia: 86
•    China’s rank among the top 10 countries catching the most ocean and fresh water fish: 1
•    The difference between China’s 17.1 million-ton catch and the second highest-ranking country’s (Peru) catch: 10 million
•    China’s share of the global aquaculture production market in terms of quantity: 67 percent
•    The percentage of the cultured salmon produced by the world’s two leading producers, Norway and Chile: 33 and 31, respectively
•    China’s share of the global supply of oysters: 82 percent
•    The monetary value of the 51.7 million tons of aquaculture fish worldwide: $78.8 billion (US)
•    The monetary value of world exports of fish and fishery products: US$85.9 billion
•    The fishery net exports of developing countries (i.e. the total value of their exports less the total value of their imports): $24.6 billion (US)
•    The Eastern Indian Ocean countries most affected by the tsunami in terms of reduced catches—Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and India—saw the follow percentage drops:  51.1, 12.1, 8.4
•    The percentage of fully exploited fish stocks worldwide: 50
•    The percent of world fish stocks that are yielding less than their maximum potential owing to excess fishing pressure: 28

And here’s the full FAO report.

By Victoria Schlesinger

Photo: iwillnotsuccumb