State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2004 - Library

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The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2004
QUANTITY
36.5%
57.7%
5.8%
VALUE
35.7%
48.4%
15.9%
Note:
Unlike terrestrial farming systems, where the bulk of global production is based on
a limited number of animal and plant species, over 220 different farmed aquatic animal
and plant species were reported in 2002. On the basis of aquaculture production
statistics reported to FAO at the species level, the top ten species account for 69 percent
of total production, and the top 25 species for over 90 percent.
It is noteworthy that the growth of aquaculture production of fish, crustaceans and
molluscs in developing countries has exceeded the corresponding growth in developed
countries, proceeding at an average annual rate of 10.4 percent since 1970. By contrast,
aquaculture production in developed countries has been increasing at an average
rate of 4.0 percent per year. In developing countries other than China, production has
grown at an annual rate of 7.8 percent. In 1970, developing countries accounted for
58.8 percent of production, while in 2002 their share had risen to 90.7 percent. With
the exception of marine shrimp, the bulk of aquaculture production in developing
countries in 2002 comprised omnivorous/herbivorous fish or filter-feeding species.
By contrast, 74 percent of the finfish culture production in developed countries was of
carnivorous species.
FISHERS AND FISH FARMERS
In 2002, fishery and aquaculture production activities provided direct employment and
revenue to an estimated 38 million people (Table 7), a marginal increase compared
with the previous year. The world number of fishers and fish farmers has been growing
at an average rate of 2.6 percent per year since 1990.
Fishers and aquaculture workers represented 2.8 percent of the 1.33 billion people
economically active in agriculture worldwide in 2002, compared with 2.3 percent in