How many fishermen are there in the world

The slight decline in overall EU production in , principally reflected the mixed developments in these three Member States: production in Spain was moderately lower By way of comparison, it is interesting to note that total fisheries production in Norway 3.

Total production in Iceland 1. Production in the United Kingdom 0. Fish catches cover fish, molluscs, crustaceans and other aquatic animals, residues and aquatic plants that are taken for all purposes, by all types and class of vessel, gear and fishermen, operated in all the seven marine areas legally covered by EU statistical regulations.

They cover catches in high-sea fishing areas, offshore, inshore or brackish water areas. The production from aquaculture and catches in fresh water is excluded. Although figures for the total production of fishery products are only available for , statistics on catches are available for The total EU catch in was an estimated 4. The level of catches in was back towards the low recorded in Catch levels were down in each of these countries, often sharply: they were moderately lower Catch levels in were lower than in many other Member States too, not least Germany Spain and Portugal were the only Member States that took catches in all of the seven fishing areas covered by the EU catch statistics.

The key species caught in the Atlantic, Northeast area in were herring About one fifth Together, France About one tenth of the total EU catch was taken in the Mediterranean and Black Sea, where the main species caught were sardines Two fifths of the total EU catch in this area was by Italy, with Greece Among Member States, Spain The main species caught in these areas were the following: hake in the Atlantic, Southwest area; blue sharks and skipjack tuna in the Atlantic, Southeast area; and redfish, cod and halibut in the Atlantic, Northwest area.

Aquaculture: 1. Aquaculture is the production of fish and other aquatic organisms like molluscs and crustaceans under controlled conditions; it is an alternative to catching wild fish and takes place both inland and in marine areas. Aquaculture is a key component of both the CFP and the Blue Growth [6] agenda to support sustainable growth in the sector.

The EU produced an estimated 1. Different aquatic organisms fetch different prices. In general, aquaculture plays a major role in the countries around the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea, where sea-fishing is generally carried out using small-scale vessels with an average capacity lower than the EU average. This helps explain why aquaculture activity plays a relatively large role in the respective fisheries industries of Malta accounting for Finfish particularly, trout, seabream, seabass, carp, tuna and salmon and molluscs particularly, mussels, oysters and clams together accounted for almost all of aquaculture production by weight in the EU in The farmed production of seabass, seabream, oysters and bluefin tuna were the next most valuable see Figure 7.

At world level, common carp was the third most farmed finfish species. However, the quantity farmed was far below the tonnes farmed in the United Kingdom and the 1. At world level, Atlantic salmon Salmo salar was the ninth most produced finfish species. Another option is to modify the types of gear used to limit their damage to the seabed. For example, the doors on otter trawls are very destructive; newer designs now limit the amount of impact these doors have with the seafloor.

In some cases, they eliminate this contact completely. Finally, we can ban trawling in specific locations where the habitat is particularly sensitive.

For example, not allowing trawling in areas with coral reefs, or important biodiverse habitat such as seagrasses. This would allow trawling activity to continue but would protect important areas of our ocean at the same time. Fish farming — also known as aquaculture — has boomed over the last 50 years. Production has increased more than fold. In fact, we now produce more seafood from aquaculture than we do from wild catch.

This has been good news for the health of global fish stocks. Global demand for seafood might have increased, but wild fish populations are finite. If we push beyond the limits of how quickly fish populations recover, this becomes unsustainable. Aquaculture has therefore been an ingenious solution: rather than relying on wild fish, we can produce our own.

Nearly all of the growth in seafood production in recent decades has come from aquaculture; wild fish catch has changed very little. But there has been one concern about the rise of aquaculture in relation to wild fish stocks.

Like any type of animal farming, we need to feed them. Sometimes we feed them fishmeal and fish oils. Not all aquaculture species are fed from animal sources, but many are. Many have questioned whether aquaculture is really the solution that it seems.

If it is partly fed by wild fish, perhaps more fish farms means more pressure on wild fish stocks? In this article I take us through the numbers to understand how much of wild fish catch really goes towards animal feed; how this is changing over time; and whether this undermines the benefits of aquaculture.

In the chart we see the breakdown of global fish catch in In the second bar we see global aquaculture production. We produce around million tonnes of farmed seafood a year. We should be careful not to interpret this as the total input and output of feed for fish farming. That would massively overstate the efficiency of fish farms. First, fishmeal is just one of many things that we need to fish, so there are other inputs. Second, many aquaculture species are not fed fishmeal or oils at all. But aquaculture production has grown quickly.

If we want to understand how sustainable this is, we need to know how the use of fish for feed has changed over time. In the chart we see global fish catch since First, we see that global fish catch has been relatively stable since When we look at the breakdown we also see that the amount that is allocated to fishmeal and oil animal feed has also not changed much since It increased a lot from the s through to the s.

But since , it has actually declined. This decline is seen even more clearly in this chart, which shows the amount of wild fish used as animal feed in blue and aquaculture production in red. To produce one fish you needed several fish as feed inputs. This is for several reasons. First, the feed conversion and efficiency of fish farms has improved. Meanwhile fish catch used for feed actually declined. If you have a FIFO greater than 1, you need more fish inputs than you get back from your fish farm.

So a ratio of 2 means you need two fish equivalents of fishmeal and oil to be able to produce one fish in return. On the flip-side, a ratio of 0.

In the chart here we see the FIFO ratio across all of the most common aquaculture species. This shows the change in FIFO in the two decades from the red markers to blue markers. In , aquaculture used fish feed very inefficiently. The overall ratio was 1. This has improved massively in the decades since then. In this ratio was 0. The FIFO improved for all aquaculture species. Today, this ratio for the most common species — carp, tilapia, and catfishes, shown at the top — is incredibly low.

They use very tiny amounts of fishmeal as inputs. On the other hand, farmed salmon, trout, and eel still have unfavourable ratios. This has improved significantly in recent decades, but is still well above 1. Hopefully this ratio continues to fall. Overall, aquaculture is an important solution to meet growing demand for seafood. But with massive improvements in efficiency, it is now a net producer of seafood. Fears that a growing aquaculture industry would put more and more pressure on wild fish stocks has not come true.

When fishers go out to catch fish, it would be great if they only caught the fish that they needed. Unfortunately this is not the case. Fishers sometimes bring by-catch back to land, to eat or sell. But often they will throw these unwanted fish back into the water. The animals they throw back are called discards. Discards can be dead or alive, but the survival rate is low. Some hardy shellfish might survive, but most discarded fish are dead. There are various reasons why fishers might not want these fish.

They might be too small; inedible; damaged; or not give them a good return in the market. Fishers might also have strict quota restrictions on how much they can bring back each day. Discards are obviously negative. Killing for no reason.

Second, this is an issue that is often hidden from official statistics. Discards are not reported. Maintaining sustainable fish stocks relies on us understanding how quickly fish populations regenerate, and balancing this with how much fish we catch. Hidden catches could tip this out-of-balance. Thankfully we are not completely blind. Marine scientists do reconstruct and estimate discards.

The UN Fisheries Division also carries out periodic — around once every per decade — assessments to understand the magnitude of the problem.

In , this was 8. We see this in the chart, which shows global fish catch since Researchers Dirk Zeller, Daniel Pauly, Maria Palomares, can reconstruct this data from estimates of how much discards are captured from different fishing methods.

Their web platform — Sea Around Us — is an excellent resource to understand global fisheries. The world caught around million tonnes of marine animals in The UN Fisheries Division did an independent assessment of discards and found a similar result. That was The amount of fish we discard has declined a lot in recent decades. We see this in the other chart which plots discards since In the early s we were throwing around 5 million tonnes of fish away.

This increased to 14 million tonnes in Since then, discards have fallen to around 8 or 9 million tonnes. This is back to levels in the late s. Some fishing methods generate much more discards than others. Indeed, most discards come from large fisheries. Small-scale fisheries contribute very little.

Researchers gather data on how much catch is discarded when different types of fishing gear are used. This gives us what is called the discard rate — what percentage of the total catch is thrown back into the water. The average results across different fishing methods is shown in the chart. Unsurprisingly, bottom trawling has the highest discard rate. Some forms are even higher — half of catch from shrimp trawls is thrown back in. The fact that trawling tends to have a high discard rate, and it is the method used to catch a lot of our fish, means that around half of global fish discards come from bottom trawling.

There are no big winners when it comes to discards. Fish are killed needlessly; and the fact that these fish are not sold or eaten means that no one benefits from more income or food. Reducing discards is a good thing. As we saw earlier, discards have fallen since the s.

Why have they declined, and can we learn to replicate it? One factor has been a rising market value of fish — even the species that fishers do not intend to catch.

Fishers are therefore incentivized to bring more of their bycatch to land and sell it. That means that even if bycatch did not decline, the amount of discards would.

Some countries have implemented a no-discard policy — a ban on discards at sea. This policy is implemented by the European Union, and was a core part of its Common Fisheries Policy reform in If fishers have a quota or limit on how much fish they can catch, they have to be much more careful about by-catch — these unwanted fish will still count towards their quota for the day. Improved gear has led to much more selective fishing practices.

Over time, gear has been adapted to reduce by-catch. Many of the effective solutions to reduce discards relies on effective monitoring and enforcement of fishery policies. This means that countries that have been successful so far tend to be those with strong fisheries policies. Eliminating by-catch completely might be unrealistic. But the fact that discards have been falling means that we can do something about it. Marine protected areas MPAs are areas of ocean — which includes the water column and seafloor — that have been reserved by law or other effective means to protect part or all of the enclosed environment.

Regulations in marine protected areas can vary but includes interventions such as no fishing zones; restrictions on fishing such as the type of gear that can be used; bans or restrictions on activities such as mining; and regulations on inputs to the ocean from rivers and industrial effluents.

The world has set long-term targets on the extent of marine protected areas. In the chart we see the amount in each zone that is protected and unprotected. As of , 7. In the charts here we see the share of territorial waters that are protected in each country. Fish production How much fish does the world produce? Methods of fishing What methods do we use to catch fish?

Fish consumption and nutrition How much fish do people eat across the world? Employment in fishing How many people are employed in fishing? Fish stocks and overfishing What does sustainable fishing mean? Environmental footprint of fishing What is the carbon, water, and pollution footprint of fish? Dredging and trawling How much of the seabed is trawled each year?

Aquaculture fish farming How much fish feed comes from wild fish? Fish production. Click to open interactive version. Which countries produce the most seafood? By clicking on any country you can see how its production has changed over time. Methods of fishing. Fish consumption and nutrition. For billions of people across the world, fish is an important source of nutrition.

Employment and livelihoods in fishing. Fish stocks and overfishing. Overall, two-thirds of fisheries are sustainable, providing four-fifths of our seafood.

Where did this claim come from, and is it true? As we will see later, this prediction has not played out in reality. The authors no longer stand by their original claim. What do we know about the health of fish stocks across the world? Globally, fish stocks are significantly affected by illegal, unregulated and unreported IUU fishing, though the exact magnitude of the matter is difficult to assess accurately.

In addition, critical fish habitats are also under pressure from pollution, coastal development, and destructive fishing practices that undermine fish stock recovery. Improved fisheries management, investment in sustainable aquaculture and protection of key habitats could help restore the productivity of oceans and generate benefits worth billions of dollars in developing countries, while ensuring future growth, food security and jobs for coastal communities. Oceans are also threatened by marine pollution from multiple sources, land-based and from activities at sea.

Plastics are one of the most visible part of this pollution; and microplastics have been found around the world, in the food chain, air, oceans, rainwater, and ice in the Arctic. Plastic pollution hurts economies, ecosystems, food security, and evidence is raising on potential impacts on human health. Addressing plastic pollution compounds a combination of solutions that are complex, multi-sectoral, and country-specific.

The spread of COVID has disrupted lives, communities, and economies worldwide, including those who depend on oceans for their livelihoods. This includes fisheries, which play a key role for food security and livelihoods but are under threat if they are not managed sustainably. Increasing the level of fishing, by encouraging more people to start fishing, is a dangerous precedent that has been set in response to other crises and poses a serious risk to the sustainability of fisheries and the jobs they provide.

Likewise, disruptions in the value chain threaten the ability of fishers and fish workers to sell their products. Through its fisheries portfolio, the Bank can help client countries respond to this new pressure and to protect the integrity of fisheries. Other sectors impacted by COVID are ecotourism and coastal tourism, where people are experiencing a decrease in income or have lost their livelihoods altogether.

Those still working face increased health and safety risks. Long-term interruptions of tourism will have significant consequences for the countries that rely on this sector for their domestic economy.

The World Bank can help support local communities through investments to provide quick livelihood support in sectors like fisheries, tourism, and ecotourism, and thus help client countries build back better. These efforts include World Bank support to smaller enterprises, easing some of the impacts of job losses of jobs, including women and vulnerable groups. Coastal communities, particularly in small-island developing states, are heavily reliant on marine resources for their livelihoods and food security.

Engaging these communities in conservation, restoration, and sustainable management of natural habitats can provide much-needed income in the short-term, while building socio-economic resilience as countries strive to revitalize their coastal economies.

Finally, the COVID crisis poses difficult short-term choices between health and the environment, with increased use of single-use plastics and pressure on solid waste systems, accompanied by a drop in recycled materials because of hygiene concerns and low prices of virgin plastics. World Bank projects that were underway long before the pandemic are now even more relevant.

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