Fish

Food security has consistently been recognized in the global fora as one of the world’s main challenges. And a safe, sustainable supply of fish product – for a global population expected to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050 – is a crucial component of this challenge.

More people than ever rely on fisheries and aquaculture for food and as a source of income. According to the latest edition of FAO’s The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture, global fisheries and aquaculture production totalled 179 million tons (with capture fishing – fishing at sea – amounting to nearly 97 million tonnes) in 2018, making fish and seafood amongst the most traded food commodities. And 87 percent of the total fish production (156 million out of 179 million tonnes) was for direct human consumption. This share has increased significantly in recent decades, as it was 67 percent in the 1960s. In fact, annual growth rate of food fish consumption has surpassed that of meat consumption from all terrestrial animals, combined.

Fishing – both in capture fisheries (at sea) and in aquaculture (fish farming) – if sustainably managed, has an important role to play in providing jobs and feeding the world, according to FAO's report. The global fish export trade amounted to some $151 billion in 2018 – a figure that will continue to rise. Per capita fish consumption has soared – from 10 kg in the 1960s to more than 20 kg in 2018 and projected to reach 21.5 kg in 2030. And in some Pacific countries like Tuvalu for example, the per capita figure is 80 kg per year! The report also notes that fish now accounts for almost 17 percent of the global population’s intake of protein – in some coastal and island countries it can top 70 percent.