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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsThe fishing industry gets aquatic food from two sources: wild animals caught in marine or inland waters, and animals raised on farms. From there, handling, processing, transport and trade connect producers with consumers and other buyers. The industry also supports jobs and livelihoods across those stages, while its rules, costs and business arrangements vary by country, species and operation.
What does the fishing industry include?
It is a connected set of activities, not just fishing boats or seafood counters. Its two main production systems are capture fisheries, which harvest wild aquatic animals, and aquaculture, which raises aquatic animals in managed environments. The wider chain includes landing or farm-site handling, processing and preservation, transport, trade, retail and food service. Some production also goes to non-food uses, including fishmeal and fish oil.
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The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reported that global fisheries and aquaculture production reached 235 million tonnes in 2024. That total includes 195 million tonnes of aquatic animals; broader production totals can also include algae. Of the aquatic animals, aquaculture produced 103 million tonnes and capture fisheries about 92 million tonnes. These figures are from FAO’s 2026 summary of its State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture report.
FAO also reported a $371 billion farm-gate value for aquaculture aquatic-animal production in 2024. Farm-gate value refers to production value at the farm stage; it is not the total value of seafood after processing and sale to consumers.
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How do capture fisheries and aquaculture differ?
| Aspect | Capture fisheries | Aquaculture |
|---|---|---|
| Source | Wild aquatic animals harvested from marine or inland waters. | Aquatic animals raised in managed marine, coastal or inland systems. |
| Where production happens | On fishing grounds, aboard vessels and at landing sites; arrangements vary by fishery. | At farms and other managed production sites, with systems varying by species and location. |
| What shapes supply | Wild stocks, fishing conditions and management shape what can be harvested. | Farm capacity, species, inputs and production conditions shape output. |
| Main governance questions | Stock status, habitats, monitoring, enforcement and management of shared resources. | Site planning, environmental conditions, feed and disease management, with effects depending on the system. |
Globally, capture production has stayed within a relatively stable range since the late 1980s, while almost all growth in aquatic production over that period has come from aquaculture, according to FAO. Aquaculture is therefore the main source of projected additional supply, but this does not make one system universally better: effects and trade-offs depend on the species, location and method.
How does seafood move from production to buyers?
- Production: Fishing operations use vessels, crews and methods suited to a particular stock and fishing area. Aquaculture operations raise aquatic species in managed settings. Not all fisheries are industrial, and aquaculture does not follow one universal model.
- Landing or harvest: Wild catch is brought ashore or transferred through other supply arrangements; farmed animals are harvested at a production site. Handling, chilling, storage and traceability can affect quality and food safety. Procedures depend on the species and the jurisdiction.
- Processing and preservation: Products may be sold fresh or processed—for example, frozen, dried, salted or canned. Processing can make products easier to store, transport or sell in different forms.
- Distribution and trade: Processors, wholesalers, exporters, importers and logistics providers connect producers to retailers, food-service businesses and other buyers. FAO notes that aquatic products may cross multiple borders before reaching consumers.
- Sale or other use: Retailers and food-service businesses sell products to consumers, while some aquatic production is used for non-food purposes, including fishmeal and fish oil. The OECD–FAO Agricultural Outlook describes fishmeal and fish oil as important inputs to animal and aquaculture feeds.
Each stage can change a product’s form and add handling or services, so farm-gate value, trade value and the price a consumer pays measure different things. The global figures do not show how revenue is divided among producers, processors, workers, transport providers and sellers, or what any particular operation earns.
How large are the trade and market flows?
FAO’s 2026 summary puts trade in aquatic animal products at $184 billion and reports that more than one-third of aquatic-animal production is traded internationally. That trade connects production areas with distant consumers and involves processing, logistics and border crossings. A rise in trade value over time does not, by itself, establish an equivalent rise in the physical volume traded.
Keep the FAO figures separate from a different estimate in the OECD–FAO Agricultural Outlook 2025–2034: that outlook describes global fisheries and aquaculture production at about 193 million tonnes in 2024, rather than FAO’s 235 million tonnes. The totals appear to use different coverage or accounting definitions, so they should not be combined or treated as directly comparable without checking those definitions.
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The OECD–FAO outlook projects 212 million tonnes of global fisheries and aquaculture production by 2034, with aquaculture accounting for 56 percent and roughly 35 percent of production traded. These are projections, not observed outcomes; they depend on the outlook’s assumptions and future market conditions.
Who works in the industry, and who depends on it?
The work extends beyond fishing crews and fish farmers to processing and preservation, transport and cold-chain logistics, trading, marketing and supporting jobs. FAO reported 61.8 million people employed in primary production in fisheries and aquaculture in 2024. Separately, FAO’s 2026 summary says the sector supports more than 600 million livelihoods worldwide. Employment in primary production and livelihoods supported across a wider economic footprint are different measures, not competing counts of direct jobs.
Small-scale fisheries
FAO estimates that small-scale fisheries contribute 40 percent of global catch and support 90 percent of the capture-fisheries workforce. These are global estimates: they do not mean small-scale fisheries supply 40 percent of every market, and their contribution is not uniform across regions.
Gender and work across the chain
On its gender page, FAO reports that women made up 24 percent of fishers and fish farmers where sex-disaggregated data were available, compared with 62 percent of workers in the post-harvest sector. Women’s roles include net mending, processing, marketing and trade. FAO also notes that many women are concentrated in less stable and lower-paid work. These reported patterns are not a description of every country or workplace.
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What determines whether fishing is sustainable?
For capture fisheries, the condition of stocks and habitats, climate and management affect what can be harvested over time. FAO reports that 72.6 percent of landings in 2023 came from biologically sustainable stocks. That is an aggregate measure, not a verdict on every stock, fishery or catch. FAO identifies monitoring and surveillance, stronger governance and cooperation through regional fishery bodies as parts of managing shared stocks and addressing illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
Aquaculture has expanded supply, but its environmental questions depend on species, site and production system. Site planning, environmental conditions, feed and disease management are among the relevant considerations; a single blanket judgment cannot describe every farm. FAO identifies science-based governance, spatial planning and innovation as parts of its aquaculture work.
Climate change and environmental degradation add risks that differ by region and emissions scenario. In its 2026 summary, FAO says exploitable fish biomass could decline by more than 10 percent by 2050 in several regions under high-emissions scenarios. This is a qualified projection, not a prediction for every fishing area.
What does this mean for understanding the business?
There is no single fishing-industry business model. A wild-capture operation, an aquaculture farm, a processor and an exporter work at different stages and face different requirements. Licensing, fishing rights, vessel costs, labor rules, processing standards and buyer economics depend on the jurisdiction and operation; global production and trade totals do not establish what a particular business costs or earns.
Quick Recap
- To understand where supply comes from, distinguish wild capture from farmed production.
- To understand the market, follow the product through handling, processing, transport and sale rather than treating the catch or harvest value as the final consumer value.
- To judge sustainability, look at the particular stock or farm system, location and applicable management rather than relying on a global average alone.
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