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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchGlobal studies estimate that fishing fleets emitted roughly 180–210 million tonnes of greenhouse gases or carbon dioxide a year, depending on the year and accounting method. The headline estimates are historical—not a measurement of emissions in 2026—and they cover wild-capture fishing, not every stage of the seafood supply chain. Fish farming is a separate source with its own estimate.
What the global estimates measure
“Fishing industry” can mean several different things. The best-known global fleet estimates measure emissions from vessels catching wild fish. They do not provide a single current total covering fishing, aquaculture, processing, refrigeration, packaging, transport, retail and waste.
- Capture fisheries: emissions from vessels harvesting wild fish.
- Aquaculture: emissions associated with farming aquatic animals. These estimates are separate from capture-fleet estimates.
- Full seafood supply chain: a broader boundary that may include feed, processing, cold storage, transport and other stages. The figures below do not establish a comprehensive current total for all of them.
That distinction matters: a number for vessel fuel use is not a complete footprint for all seafood, and figures for different boundaries should not simply be added together.
Key estimates for wild-capture fishing
| Study and year | Estimate | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Parker et al. (2018), emissions in 2011 | 179 million tonnes of CO2e | Global fishing-fleet greenhouse-gas emissions; the study also estimated 40 billion litres of fuel use that year. Source |
| Greer et al. (2019), emissions in 2016 | About 207 million tonnes of CO2 | CO2 from fuel combustion in marine fisheries: about 159 million tonnes from industrial fishing and about 47–48 million tonnes from small-scale fishing. Source |
| UNCTAD (2023), annual estimates for 2012–2016 | 73–159 million tonnes of CO2 | A reported range for fishing fleets. UNCTAD cautions that estimates may be low because many countries have not measured emissions accurately and consistently. Source |
These estimates differ in year, methods and emissions measure. CO2e expresses the warming impact of multiple greenhouse gases as an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide; a CO2-only figure is not identical. Greer et al. also reconstructed catch and fishing effort, producing estimates that vary with the method and treatment of unreported catch. Its 2011 estimates include about 112 million tonnes of CO2 using an earlier catch-based approach, about 158 million tonnes when reconstructed unreported catch is included, and about 208 million tonnes using an effort-based approach. Those values are not interchangeable with Parker et al.’s 179 million tonnes of CO2e. Parker et al.; Greer et al.
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How much does aquaculture add?
An FAO-linked study estimated that global finfish and shellfish aquaculture produced 263 million tonnes of CO2e in 2017. The estimate assumed the remaining 7% of production had the same emissions intensity as the production covered by the study, and it excluded aquatic plants. This is a separate farmed-seafood estimate, not an updated figure for fishing vessels. MacLeod et al. (2020)
Because the capture-fisheries and aquaculture estimates refer to different years and accounting boundaries, combining them into one “fishing industry” total would imply more comparability than the figures support.
Why there is no precise current total
The fleet estimates highlighted here concern 2011 and 2016, while the aquaculture estimate concerns 2017. They are historical snapshots, not a consistent annual series or a current inventory covering both sectors and the full seafood chain. The cited sources do not establish a directly comparable, comprehensive 2026 total.
For context, the FAO reported 16.5 gigatonnes of CO2e in agrifood-system emissions for 2023. That broader figure includes crop and livestock farm-gate emissions, land-use change, and pre- and post-production; it is not a fisheries estimate. FAO (2025)
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Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to compare fishing-emissions figures
Before comparing two figures, check what each one actually counts:
Quick Recap
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- Activity: wild-capture vessels, aquaculture, or the whole seafood supply chain.
- Year: the year emissions occurred, rather than the later publication date.
- Gas measure: CO2 alone or CO2e, which represents multiple greenhouse gases on a common scale.
- Method and coverage: for example, whether estimates reconstruct fishing effort or include unreported catch.
- Supply-chain stages: whether the accounting includes only vessel fuel or also upstream and downstream activities.
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