According to the latest report from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) titled “State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture,” aquatic animal production from aquaculture exceeded 100 million tonnes for the first time in 2024. This milestone highlights the sector’s significant contribution to feeding the growing global population. The report, launched at the 11th Our Ocean Conference in Mombasa, Kenya, underscores sustainability and equity challenges within the industry.
The trade in aquatic animal products reached $184 billion, rivaling terrestrial meat trade in value. However, ensuring sustainable and equitable growth of marine and inland ecosystems remains a key challenge. The report estimates that global fisheries and aquaculture production attained a record 235 million tonnes in 2024, with 195 million tonnes comprising aquatic animals. While wild fisheries have largely stabilized, aquatic animal production has experienced continuous growth, averaging 3.2 percent annually since the 1950s.
Aquatic animal foods play a vital role in human diets, with 89 percent of production dedicated to human consumption, providing at least one-fifth of the animal protein consumed by 3.1 billion people. The sector supports over 600 million livelihoods worldwide. Despite increased availability, benefits remain uneven, particularly in Africa, where per capita aquatic animal food supply falls below the global average.
The sector faces growing pressures from climate change, environmental degradation, economic shocks, and geopolitical shifts, affecting performance and sustainability. Under high emissions scenarios, exploitable fish biomass is projected to decline by over 10 percent by 2050 in several regions. The report explores how these pressures will impact the sector, along with advances in adaptation and mitigation to climate change.
FAO Director-General QU Dongyu emphasized the importance of reversing the decline in sustainability to secure the sector’s long-term potential. In 2023, the availability of aquatic animal foods reached 171 million tonnes, but distribution remains uneven. Trade in aquatic products has expanded significantly, with export values rising more than twenty-threefold between 1976 and 2024. FAO projects continued growth in production, consumption, and trade, with total aquatic animal production expected to reach 214 million tonnes by 2034.
FAO’s Blue Transformation Roadmap 2022-2030 aims to improve sustainability, productivity, and inclusiveness within the sector. The initiative promotes science-based governance, spatial planning, and innovation in aquaculture, as well as stronger governance and enhanced monitoring in capture fisheries. Key figures from the SOFIA 2026 report include aquaculture production reaching 103 million tonnes in 2024, aquaculture providing 53 percent of total aquatic animal production, and wild fisheries plateauing with capture output reaching 92 million tonnes. The sector supports over 600 million livelihoods worldwide.
Source: FAO
