Small pelagics (open ocean fish) are caught in enormous quantities (38 million tonnes in 2000 - 44% of global marine landings) (05P1).

Since the mid-1990s, total global wild fisheries catch has plateaued at roughly 185-200 billion pounds (85-90 million tonnes) (00F2).

Over-reporting by China has masked dramatic declines in global marine fish catches for more than a decade. The amount of seafood landed has actually been decreasing during the 1990s by nearly 800 million pounds/ year, rather than increasing by 700 million pounds/ year. The over-reporting has thrown off the global fisheries statistics that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UNFAO) compiles for use by all nations. (The FAO relies on voluntary reporting of catches from countries to estimate the amount of fish the oceans hold (01H1).) Using FAO statistics gathered since 1950, scientists created maps of world fisheries catches and built a computer model to predict catch size in different ocean regions. The model showed China's reported catches were unrealistically high when compared with catches from other ocean areas that have similar characteristics such as depth, temperature and biological productivity (01H1). Contrary to UNFAO statistics, which indicate that the global fisheries catch is stable, leading fisheries scientists reveal that catches have actually been declining for over a decade. This new evidence means that the true state of the oceans is far worse than anyone has previously realized. This is because of vast over-reporting by the People's Republic of China. Presently only a single institution, FAO, maintains global fisheries statistics. As a UN organization, FAO receives, but is not able to verify, statistics reported by member countries, even when they are suspected of being wrong (01U3). (continued below)

Over-reporting by China (Cont.) Using FAO's catch data and a massive statistical analysis that compared the predicted fisheries against those reported, the authors showed errors in the official fishery statistics. These inflated statistics had led to complacency about the need to more effectively manage fisheries and have resulted in unwise investment decisions by banks and industry. Over the past 30 years there have been dramatic increases in the exploitation of world fisheries including more species being marketed and new fishing areas opening up. Increased effort and fishing pressures are devouring the accumulated "old growth" riches of the sea. Despite scientists' widespread expectations that world fisheries would plateau at values of around 80 million tons, global catches reported by FAO generally increased through the 1990's - driven largely by inflated catch reports from China (01U3). (continued below)

Over-reporting by China: Many countries over and under-report their catch statistics, but none has as big an impact as China. Although Chinese waters covers only 1% of the world's water surface, China accounts for 40% of the deviation between reported and corrected. The study highlights anomalies in the 1990's of as much as 10 tonnes/ km² when compared to reported amounts for Chinese waters. The same state entities devoted to monitoring the economy are also tasked with increasing its output. Studies showed that whatever leaders set as production targets is what is officially reported. If leaders dictate fisheries to increase by 5% then it is reported to increase by 5%." (01U3).

Capture fisheries production: 94.8 in 2000; 92 million tonnes in 2001 (FAO data) (03W1). Comments: False reporting by China may affect these numbers.

Capture fisheries landings (excluding discarded bycatch) amounts to 96 million tonnes/ year, of which 65 million tonnes/ year of whole fish and 1 million tonnes/ year of seaweed are consumed by humans. The remaining 30-million tonnes/ year of fish catch plus another 2-million tonnes/ year of processing scraps from aquaculture and fisheries are used for fishmeal production (Ref. 22 of Ref. (00N1)). (Presumably this data pertains to 1999) Comments: Does this include freshwater?

Capture fisheries landings, as a whole, have plateaued at 85-95 million tonnes/ year (Ref. 8 of Ref. (00N1)). Comments: Does this include freshwater?

During the 1990s, global production of marine capture fisheries fluctuated between 80-85 million tonnes/ year (03W2).

Fish from the Pacific Ocean dominated world capture fisheries, accounting for almost two-thirds of total world supplies in 1999 (03W2).

The Myers/ Worm Study: Every single species of large wild fish has been caught so systematically over the past 50 years that 90% of each type have disappeared, according to the first scientific study to assess the fish left in the global ocean. And, from the tropics to the poles, those left in the sea are only one half to one fifth the size they were before industrialized fishing began in about 1950 (03M1). The study by marine biologists Ransom Myers of Dalhousie University in Halifax and Boris Worm of the Institute for Marine Science in Kiel, Germany, catalogues biological destruction that is unprecedented in its global scope and rapidity since the dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago (03M1). The Nature study on fish took 10 years and examined all major fisheries in the world in nine oceanic systems and on four continental shelves (03M1). (Continued below)

A separate scientific study published 5/14/03 by the Species Survival Commission of the Swiss-based World Conservation Union warned that other ocean creatures are faring no better than the big fish. The phenomenon is driven by advances in the sonar methods developed during WWII and satellite methods of finding the ocean's warm fronts where fish once congregated (03M1).

The total fish catch in 4 regions (Pacific east-central, Atlantic northwest, west-central and southeast) declined by over 30% between 1973-1991 (Pittsburgh Post Gazette (7/24/94)).

Marine Fisheries Catch by Area in 1975 (81C1) (millions of tonnes/ year) (Obsolete Data - for historic purposed only)
Portion|Atlantic|Pacific|Total
North ~| 15.9 ~ | 19.3 ~| 35.2
Central| ~6.4 ~ | ~9.3 ~| 15.7
South ~| ~3.4 ~ | ~4.9 ~| ~8.3
Totals | 25.7 ~ | 33.5 ~| 59.2

SECTION [3-B] ~ Harvest- and Population Data ~ By-Catch ~

Of the estimated 90 million tons/ year of marine capture fish caught worldwide, about 30 million tons are discarded (World Wide Fund for Nature data) (08R1).

CCAMLR estimates pirate long-lining vessels have killed, as by-catch, up to 144,000 albatrosses and 400,000 petrels in Antarctic waters since 1996 (03O1).

According to a May 2010 British government report, the world's oceans have lost 73% of their zooplankton since 1960, and over 50% of the decline in zooplankton has been since 1990.

Stocks of phytoplankton have decreased by 40% since 1950, potentially as a result of global warming. Phytoplankton is the first link in the oceanic food chain. It is eaten by zooplankton that is in turn eaten by other animals, which are then consumed by yet further sea creatures. The only thing that separates whales from phytoplankton in the food chain, are the krill that come in between. Since 1899, the average global mass of phytoplankton has shrunk by 1% each year, according to a. Since 1950, phytoplankton has declined globally by about 40%. Data show that the decline is happening in 8 of the 10 regions studied. In one of the other two, the phytoplankton is disappearing even more quickly, while one region showed an increase. Both of the two exceptions are in the Indian Ocean. Climate change is believed to be responsible for the disappearance of phytoplankton. In contrast to coastal areas, waters in the open sea are deeply stratified. Phytoplankton is found near the surface and gets its nourishment when cold and nutrient-rich water rises from the depths. "But when water on the upper surface gets warmer as a result of climate change, then it makes this mixing difficult. The negative effect warmer surface temperatures have had on phytoplankton has long been well-documented, says Worm, just not over extended time periods. Continuous satellite measurements have only been available for the last 12 years or so. Experts are warning that the world's fisheries could collapse by 2050. But the decline in phytoplankton could make the situation even worse. Half of the oxygen produced by plants comes from phytoplankton (Markus Becker, "Phytoplankton's Dramatic Decline: A Food Chain Crisis in the World's Oceans," report in 7/29/10 issue of the journal Nature. Boris Worm was the author of the study.).

Molluscs, foremost among them oysters, account for one-third of world production of fish and shellfish (03W2).

During the 1990s, 28-33 million tonnes of fish were used each year for the global production of fishmeal and oil. Almost all of this was landed by marine capture fisheries. When the capture of pelagic fish off the west coast of South America contracted as a result of the El Niño phenomenon, so did global production of fishmeal: in 1998 23.9 million tonnes of fish were reduced to fishmeal and oil. By 1999 this figure increased again to 30 million tonnes, or almost 24% of total world catch of fish, representing a return to a more normal level as a result of the recovery of fishing in South America (03W2).

A third of all fish landed globally go into fishmeal and oils used for agriculture and aquaculture. But raising more vegetarian fish like carp, tilapia and shellfish and not supplementing their food with fishmeal or oils would help alleviate the problem (01H1).

Fish Meal Consumption, 1961-1963, in 1000 tonnes (81C1) (Obsolete Data - For historical purposes only)
Industrialized Nations - - - -| - -| 2408
~ ~North America~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ | 668| -
~ ~Europe ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ |1355| -
~ ~ ~ EEC ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~|734 | ~ ~| -
~ ~ ~ Northwest Europe~ ~|517 | ~ ~| -
~ ~ ~ Southern Europe ~ ~|104 | ~ ~| -
~ ~Other Industrial Countries | 385| -
~ ~ ~ Japan ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~|340 | ~ ~| -
~ ~ ~ Others~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~| 45 | ~ ~| -
Centrally planned Countries ~ | ~ ~| 231
~ ~USSR ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ | 119| -
~ ~Other European Countries ~ | 112| -
Less Developed Countries~ ~ ~ | - -| 221
World Total ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ | - -| 2860
Meal from Offal ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ | - -| ~230
Meal from Fish~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ | - -| 2630
Fish for meal ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ | - -|13150
(5 tons fish = one ton meal.) Comments: Current consumption is much higher due to demand from aquaculture.

Fig. 7 of Ref. (07F1) charts relative inland (freshwater) capture fisheries production by continent in 2004 (in %).

Fig. 8 of Ref. (07F1) charts relative inland (freshwater) capture fisheries production by producer countries in 2004 (in thousands of tonnes and for the top 10 producers only).

Fig. 9 of Ref. (07F1) charts the major species-groups of inland (freshwater) capture species harvested in 2004 (in thousands of tonnes).

Catches from inland waters (90% in Africa and Asia) have increased gradually since 1950, reaching 9.2 million tonnes in 2004 (07F1).

During the 1990s, production from fisheries in inland waters expanded from 6.4 million tonnes in 1990 to nearly 8.3 million tonnes in 1999. However, inland fishery catches are believed to be greatly under-reported (99F3). This is because of the dispersed and informal nature of many inland fisheries, and because many inland fish are bartered, sold or consumed locally without entering into the formal economy. For example, inland fisheries in Brazil, Ghana and several Southeast Asian countries may be 2-6 times more productive, in terms of catch actually taken, as officially reported (03W2).