Mapped: Ocean Fishing and Aquaculture Around the World

Pallavi Rao
2023-11-17 20:09:20
www.visualcapitalist.com

Ocean Fishing and Aquaculture Around the World

Fish and seafood is the most popularly consumed meat in the world, the first choice in more than 56 countries.

But where do our fish come from? Are they caught by massive ocean fishing boats, or farmed in sprawling aquaculture installations?

This map from creator Perrin Remonté points out where fishing activity (marked in white) occurs, using data from automatic identification system equipment aboard more than 70,000 industrial fishing vessels between 2012–2016.

The brightest white hotspots on the map—off the coast of China, western and nordic Europe, and the Pacific Northwest—give an indication of where most of the world’s fish supply is caught.

But who are the biggest producers?

Ranked: Which Country Produces the Most Fish?

By far the country with the biggest fish production is China, which supplied nearly 86 million metric tons of fish to the world in 2021, about 40% of global supply.

Chinese fishing vessels can be found fishing as far away from home as Argentina—sometimes illegally—to keep up with demand.

Here’s a list of the biggest fish producers, ranked by total output in 2021.

Rank	Territory	Fish Production (2021, tonnes)
1	China	85,948,134
2	Indonesia	21,813,413
3	India	14,433,205
4	Vietnam	8,289,524
5	Peru	6,726,989
6	Russia	5,487,045
7	U.S.	4,731,048
8	Bangladesh	4,621,228
9	Norway	4,220,624
10	Philippines	4,114,594
11	Japan	4,114,570
12	Chile	3,833,592
13	South Korea	3,742,566
14	Myanmar	2,594,957
15	Thailand	2,402,021
16	Egypt	2,001,959
17	Mexico	1,875,566
18	Ecuador	1,760,054
19	Malaysia	1,754,209
20	Morocco	1,434,205
21	Brazil	1,410,979
22	Iran	1,258,203
23	Iceland	1,109,563
24	Spain	1,088,454
25	Nigeria	1,080,855
26	Canada	945,954
27	Oman	923,786
28	North Korea	888,630
29	UK	864,698
30	Mauritania	860,217
31	Cambodia	856,400
32	Argentina	856,253
33	Türkiye	799,844
34	Uganda	760,545
35	France	708,995
36	Pakistan	660,586
37	Faroe Islands	656,364
38	Tanzania	621,058
39	Angola	531,772
40	Senegal	515,108
41	Denmark	507,097
42	South Africa	501,855
43	Ghana	482,142
44	New Zealand	459,937
45	Sri Lanka	431,255
46	Namibia	411,170
47	Mozambique	376,763
48	Netherlands	340,131
49	Guinea	326,270
50	Colombia	321,390
51	Cameroon	300,130
52	Australia	297,233
53	Italy	296,358
54	Venezuela	276,701
55	Ireland	276,258
56	Greenland	271,027
57	Poland	246,172
58	DRC	233,860
59	Georgia	220,365
60	Germany	220,312
61	Laos	206,008
62	Sierra Leone	205,015
63	Greece	203,558
64	Portugal	199,046
65	Papua New Guinea	194,786
66	Belize	192,226
67	Kiribati	191,168
68	Panama	183,774
69	Saudi Arabia	181,949
70	Malawi	180,508
71	Sweden	175,222
72	Uzbekistan	171,933
73	Zambia	168,480
74	Micronesia	166,334
75	Kenya	152,728
76	Tunisia	150,321
77	Maldives	144,993
78	Finland	139,370
79	Seychelles	139,174
80	Yemen	131,317
81	Madagascar	130,333
82	Nepal	121,854
83	Nauru	120,410
84	Hong Kong	119,088
85	Mali	115,584
86	Cote d’Ivoire	111,015
87	Chad	103,110
88	Lithuania	101,290
89	Marshall Islands	95,933
90	Croatia	89,253
91	Nicaragua	86,280
92	Algeria	83,979
93	Honduras	79,518
94	Ukraine	79,388
95	Benin	78,765
96	Estonia	73,085
97	El Salvador	71,754
98	Congo	70,330
99	Uruguay	66,403
100	Iraq	66,374
101	UAE	63,852
102	Guinea-Bissau	63,231
103	Latvia	62,560
104	Solomon Islands	62,314
105	Ethiopia	61,390
106	Vanuatu	55,935
107	Gambia	52,687
108	Niger	47,672
109	Kazakhstan	46,896
110	Costa Rica	46,432
111	Sudan	44,450
112	Guatemala	43,666
113	Rwanda	42,407
114	Cuba	40,718
115	Guyana	34,358
116	Fiji	33,081
117	Mauritius	32,955
118	South Sudan	32,545
119	Suriname	32,170
120	Libya	31,961
121	Paraguay	31,710
122	Tuvalu	31,097
123	Burkina Faso	30,609
124	Somalia	30,000
125	Gabon	29,925
126	Central African Republic	28,215
127	Zimbabwe	27,792
128	Liberia	25,444
129	Curacao	25,027
130	Czechia	24,305
131	Bulgaria	24,183
132	Hungary	22,447
133	Burundi	21,040
134	Dominican Republic	20,397
135	Brunei Darussalam	20,063
136	Armenia	19,700
137	Comoros	19,356
138	Malta	18,936
139	Togo	18,866
140	Albania	18,283
141	Belgium	18,160
142	Romania	18,065
143	Haiti	17,830
144	Israel	16,910
145	Qatar	16,668
146	Bahrain	15,736
147	Turkmenistan	15,202
148	French Polynesia	14,802
149	Trinidad & Tobago	13,102
150	Moldova	12,905
151	Afghanistan	12,607
152	Jamaica	11,840
153	Cabo Verde	11,652
154	Bolivia	11,453
155	Kyrgyz Republic	10,320
156	Serbia	9,662
157	Cyprus	9,264
158	Samoa	9,186
159	Belarus	9,115
160	Bahamas	8,705
161	Syria	6,660
162	Equatorial Guinea	6,322
163	Timor-Leste	6,024
164	Sao Tome & Principe	6,020
165	Singapore	5,550
166	West Bank & Gaza	5,348
167	Austria	5,270
168	New Caledonia	4,715
169	Eritrea	4,578
170	Tajikistan	4,389
171	Bosnia & Herzegovina	4,124
172	Slovak Republic	4,119
173	Kuwait	3,975
174	Switzerland	3,850
175	North Macedonia	3,683
176	Lebanon	3,358
177	Channel Islands	3,333
178	Antigua & Barbuda	3,225
179	Djibouti	3,089
180	Isle of Man	3,041
181	Jordan	2,810
182	Turks & Caicos Islands	2,277
183	Azerbaijan	1,971
184	Slovenia	1,955
185	Montenegro	1,666
186	St. Lucia	1,625
187	St. Vincent & the Grenadines	1,599
188	Puerto Rico	1,598
189	Lesotho	1,556
190	Macao	1,500
191	Tonga	1,265
192	British Virgin Islands	1,134
193	American Samoa	1,079
194	Grenada	1,046
195	Barbados	872
196	Palau	804
197	Virgin Islands	428
198	Bermuda	419
199	St. Kitts & Nevis	371
200	Dominica	289
201	Sint Maarten	253
202	Northern Mariana Islands	230
203	Bhutan	208
204	Botswana	201
205	Aruba	167
206	Eswatini	165
207	Guam	141
208	Cayman Islands	135
209	St. Martin	90
210	Gibraltar	1
211	Monaco	1
N/A	World	216,872,258

Source: World Bank.

Other Asian countries—Indonesia (21.8 million tonnes), India (14.4 million tonnes), and Vietnam (8.2 million tonnes)—fill out the next few spots. Peru, with an annual production of 6.7 million tonnes rounds out the top five fish suppliers, which together account for nearly 60% of world fish supply.

The second half of the top 10 also has representatives from North America (the U.S.) and Europe (Russia), the latter whose fleets have also been caught fishing illegally off the coast of Africa.

Captured Ocean Fish vs Farmed Aquaculture Fish

A big footnote on total fish production is that it also includes aquaculture and farmed fish. Breaking down total fish supply between farmed and captured fish reveals some interesting trends. Here we rank the biggest fish suppliers by their farmed fish output.

Rank	Territory	Aquaculture Supply (2021, tonnes)	Captured Supply (2021, tonnes)
1	China	72,805,297	13,142,837
2	Indonesia	14,606,534	7,206,879
3	India	9,408,300	5,024,905
4	Vietnam	4,749,274	3,540,250
5	Bangladesh	2,638,745	1,982,483
6	South Korea	2,427,677	1,314,889
7	Philippines	2,272,528	1,842,067
8	Norway	1,665,112	2,555,512
9	Egypt	1,576,189	425,770
10	Chile	1,443,520	2,390,072
11	Thailand	989,898	1,412,123
12	Japan	963,680	3,150,890
13	Myanmar	929,217	1,665,740
14	Ecuador	896,435	863,619
15	North Korea	680,560	208,070
16	Brazil	650,356	760,623
17	Iran	478,737	779,466
18	Türkiye	471,686	328,158
19	U.S.	448,615	4,282,433
20	Malaysia	416,978	1,337,231
21	Cambodia	348,350	508,050
22	Russia	319,342	5,167,703
23	Spain	279,910	808,544
24	Nigeria	275,645	805,210
25	Mexico	246,914	1,628,652
26	UK	230,280	634,419
27	France	198,886	510,110
28	Colombia	192,521	128,869
29	Canada	191,449	754,505
30	Pakistan	164,527	496,059
31	Peru	150,818	6,576,171
32	Italy	145,862	150,496
33	Greece	143,926	59,632
34	Uganda	138,558	621,987
35	Laos	135,008	71,000
36	Australia	126,206	171,026
37	Uzbekistan	118,933	53,000
38	New Zealand	116,839	343,098
39	Faroe Islands	115,760	540,604
40	Saudi Arabia	114,490	67,459
41	Tanzania	106,482	514,575
42	Nepal	100,854	21,000
43	Ghana	89,380	392,762
44	Zambia	63,355	105,125
45	Honduras	63,268	16,250
46	Venezuela	53,601	223,100
47	Iceland	53,136	1,056,427
48	Sri Lanka	50,977	380,278
49	Poland	44,787	201,385
50	Ireland	42,099	234,159
51	Denmark	40,594	466,503
52	Netherlands	40,590	299,541
53	Germany	32,649	187,663
54	Guatemala	32,583	11,082
55	Nicaragua	31,006	55,275
56	Croatia	26,831	62,422
57	Tunisia	26,077	124,243
58	Iraq	22,694	43,680
59	Cuba	22,665	18,053
60	Kenya	21,825	130,903
61	Czechia	20,991	3,314
62	Portugal	19,516	179,530
63	Armenia	18,930	770
64	Hungary	17,847	4,601
65	Costa Rica	17,309	29,123
66	Ukraine	16,882	62,506
67	Malta	16,433	2,503
68	Madagascar	16,396	113,937
69	Sweden	15,253	159,969
70	Bulgaria	15,174	9,009
71	Israel	14,875	2,035
72	Finland	14,399	124,971
73	Paraguay	14,150	17,560
74	Moldova	12,905	0
75	El Salvador	12,749	59,005
76	Solomon Islands	12,461	49,854
77	Romania	11,714	6,351
78	Afghanistan	11,107	1,500
79	South Africa	10,525	491,330
80	Rwanda	10,313	32,094
81	Kyrgyz Republic	10,300	20
82	Malawi	9,948	170,560
83	Sudan	9,900	34,550
84	Cameroon	9,800	290,330
85	Albania	8,641	9,642
86	Belarus	8,504	611
87	Mali	8,484	107,100
88	Cyprus	7,862	1,401
89	Serbia	7,308	2,354
90	Panama	6,704	177,069
91	Papua New Guinea	6,122	188,664
92	Cote d’Ivoire	5,720	105,295
93	Kazakhstan	5,438	41,457
94	Singapore	5,244	306
95	DRC	5,195	228,665
96	Lithuania	5,138	96,152
97	Zimbabwe	5,058	22,734
98	Austria	4,920	350
99	Algeria	4,779	79,200
100	Brunei Darussalam	4,768	15,295
101	Benin	4,150	74,615
102	Hong Kong	3,909	115,179
103	Bolivia	3,853	7,600
104	Bosnia & Herzegovina	3,819	305
105	Argentina	3,687	852,566
106	Mozambique	3,200	373,563
107	North Macedonia	3,169	514
108	Angola	2,808	528,964
109	Georgia	2,790	217,575
110	Dominican Republic	2,730	17,667
111	UAE	2,663	61,189
112	Switzerland	2,364	1,486
113	Syria	2,350	4,310
114	Mauritius	2,316	30,640
115	Slovak Republic	2,304	1,815
116	Jordan	2,145	665
117	Tajikistan	2,039	2,350
118	Morocco	2,006	1,432,199
119	Oman	1,703	922,083
120	Slovenia	1,686	269
121	Haiti	1,610	16,220
122	French Polynesia	1,559	13,243
123	Lesotho	1,501	55
124	Burundi	1,490	19,550
125	New Caledonia	1,411	3,305
126	Senegal	1,151	513,957
127	Guinea	1,150	325,120
128	Channel Islands	1,145	2,188
129	Timor-Leste	1,091	4,933
130	Congo	911	69,419
131	Latvia	901	61,658
132	Jamaica	884	10,956
133	Togo	882	17,984
134	Burkina Faso	878	29,731
135	Montenegro	858	808
136	Estonia	849	72,236
137	Lebanon	778	2,580
138	Ethiopia	740	60,650
139	West Bank & Gaza	687	4,661
140	Belize	605	191,621
141	Azerbaijan	507	1,464
142	Niger	472	47,200
143	Kuwait	450	3,525
144	Namibia	321	410,849
145	Liberia	275	25,169
146	Belgium	223	17,937
147	Central African Republic	215	28,000
148	St. Lucia	211	1,414
149	Fiji	206	32,874
150	Bhutan	193	15
151	Botswana	163	38
152	Turkmenistan	160	15,042
153	Guyana	142	34,216
154	Sierra Leone	115	204,900
155	Guam	115	26
156	Qatar	114	16,555
157	Chad	110	103,000
158	Uruguay	103	66,300
159	Tonga	100	1,165
160	Eswatini	100	65
161	Gabon	65	29,860
162	South Sudan	45	32,500
163	Northern Mariana Islands	41	189
164	Suriname	40	32,130
165	Gambia	35	52,652
166	Cabo Verde	28	11,624
167	Barbados	26	847
168	Grenada	23	1,024
169	Antigua & Barbuda	20	3,205
170	American Samoa	20	1,059
171	Trinidad & Tobago	18	13,084
172	Palau	18	786
173	Puerto Rico	18	1,580
174	Bahrain	16	15,720
175	Equatorial Guinea	15	6,307
176	St. Vincent & the Grenadines	13	1,586
177	Yemen	10	131,307
178	Guinea-Bissau	10	63,221
179	Libya	10	31,951
180	Samoa	10	9,176
181	Cayman Islands	10	125
182	Virgin Islands	8	420
183	Eritrea	4	4,574
184	Vanuatu	3	55,932
185	Kiribati	2	191,166
186	St. Kitts & Nevis	2	369
187	Aruba	2	165
188	Tuvalu	1	31,096
189	British Virgin Islands	1	1,133
190	Dominica	1	288
191	Nauru	1	120,409
192	Marshall Islands	0	95,933
193	Micronesia	0	166,334
194	Seychelles	0	139,174
195	Curacao	0	25,027
196	Bahamas	0	8,705
197	Turks & Caicos Islands	0	2,277
198	Mauritania	0	860,217
199	Greenland	0	271,027
200	Maldives	0	144,993
201	Somalia	0	30,000
202	Comoros	0	19,356
203	Sao Tome & Principe	0	6,020
204	Djibouti	0	3,089
205	Isle of Man	0	3,041
206	Macao	0	1,500
207	Bermuda	0	419
208	Sint Maarten	0	253
209	St. Martin	0	90
210	Gibraltar	0	1
211	Monaco	0	1
N/A	World	126,035,146	92,177,119

Source: World Bank.

Aquaculture makes up the majority of fish production for all the big Asian producers in the top 10. However the inverse is true for European, North American, and South American countries.

While the history of aquaculture goes back thousands of years, its use began to rise steeply in the 2000s, with production overtaking captured fish in 2014. First seen as a solution to overfishing and to make the industry more sustainable, aquaculture’s problems are now beginning to weigh on the industry.

From the pollution it causes—in the form of feces—to its dependence on wild catch for feeding the stock, makes it far less sustainable than what is assumed. In fact, about 25% of wild catch is turned into fish meal—a mixture of less appetizing fish like anchovies, menhaden and herring—used to feed farmed fish.

How Secure is the Ocean Fishing Industry?

Fish and seafood is one of the most accessible sources of meat in the world, accounting for 17% of animal protein consumed. However, almost 90% of the world’s fish stocks are fully depleted while demand only continues to grow.

Unregulated and illegal fishing not only adds a sustainability burden to the planet, but the industry is also rife with human rights abuses, including human trafficking and modern slavery.

Meanwhile, only 3% of the world’s oceans are designated as protected marine reserves and even they lack the safeguards to fully stop exploitative fishing.

The post Mapped: Ocean Fishing and Aquaculture Around the World appeared first on Visual Capitalist.

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