Abstract:

Capture fisheries and aquaculture supplied the world with about 142 million tonnes of fish in 2008 (Table 1 and Figure 1; all data presented are subject to rounding). Of this, 115 million tonnes was used as human food, providing an estimated apparent per capita supply of about 17 kg (live weight equivalent), which is an all-time high (Table 1 and Figure 2). Aquaculture accounted for 46 percent of total food fish supply, a slightly lower proportion than reported in The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2008 owing to a major downward revision of aquaculture and capture fishery production statistics by China (see below), but representing a continuing increase from 43 percent in 2006. Outside China, per capita supply has remained fairly static in recent years as growth in supply from aquaculture has offset a small decline in capture fishery production and a rising population (Table 2). In 2008, per capita food fish supply was estimated at 13.7 kg if data for China are excluded. In 2007, fish accounted for 15.7 percent of the global population’s intake of animal protein and 6.1 percent of all protein consumed. Globally, fish provides more than 1.5 billion people with almost 20 percent of their average per capita intake of animal protein, and 3.0 billion people with at least 15 percent of such protein. In 2007, the average annual per capita