World Fisheries Day

Marine fisheries are crucial to the food security and nutrition, economy and overall well-being of coastal communities. Maintaining the long-term prosperity and sustainability of marine fisheries is therefore not only ecologically significant, but has social, economic and political importance. The aim of this report is to provide FAO Members, national and regional policymakers, academia, civil society, fishers and managers of world fishery resources with a comprehensive, objective and global review of the state of the living fishery resources of the oceans. This document updates the regular reviews of the state of the world’s marine fishery resources , based on stock assessments and complementary information up to 2023, and official catch statistics through to 2021. The introductory and methodology chapters provide the wider context in which this updated edition of the Review of the state of world marine fishery resources was prepared, highlighting evolutions in the landscape of fish...

As yachts bobbed gently and delegates streamed by in a rising tide of lanyards and iPads at Port Lympia, Nice’s historic harbor, that statistic sent a ripple through the conference ’s third day – a stark reminder that the world’s oceans are under growing pressure from overfishing, climate change and unsustainable management. Presented dockside at a press conference by Manuel Barange, Assistant Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization ( FAO ), the report offered a detailed global snapshot of how human activity is steadily draining the ocean – and how sound management can bring it back. “To use a banking comparison,” Mr. Barange told UN News in an interview ahead of the report’s launch, “we are extracting more than the interest the bank gives us. We are depleting the populations.” The Review of the State of World Marine Fishery Resources 2025 , which draws on data from 2,570 marine fish stocks – the widest scope used by FAO yet – paints a complex picture: while ove...

 Regional disparities remain stark. In the Pacific coast of the United States and Canada, over 90% of stocks are sustainably fished. In Australia and New Zealand , the figure exceeds 85%. The Antarctic – governed by strict international regulations – reports 100% sustainability. But along northwest Africa’s coast, from Morocco to the Gulf of Guinea , over half of all stocks are overfished, with little sign of recovery. The Mediterranean and Black Sea fare even worse: 65% of stocks there are unsustainable. Yet there is a positive sign – the number of boats going out to fish in that region has declined by nearly a third over the past decade, offering hope that policy shifts are beginning to take effect. Assistant Director-General Manuel Barange, of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), unveiled the agency’s report on the world’s fish stocks.  For Mr. Barange, the lesson is clear: where management systems exist – and are backed by resources – stocks recover. But science-...

  Perhaps the clearest example of recovery may be tuna. Once on the brink, the saltwater fish has made a remarkable comeback. Today, 87 per cent of major tuna stocks are sustainably fished, and 99% of the global market comes from those stocks . “This is a very significant turnaround,” Mr. Barange said. “Because we have taken management seriously, we have set up monitoring systems, we set up management systems, compliance systems.” The full findings in the FAO’s   Review of the State of World Marine Fishery Resources 2025 , are likely to shape policy discussions far beyond Nice. The agency has worked closely with 25 regional fisheries-management organizations to promote accountability and reform, and Mr. Barange believes the model is replicable – if the political will holds.

Countries were reported to have finalized negotiations over the political declaration expected to be adopted on Friday at the close of UNOC3, as the conference is known. The statement will form part of the Nice Ocean Action Plan and is intended to align with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework – the 2022 agreement to protect 30% of the planet’s land and ocean by 2030. As the heat climbed once again over the stone quays of Nice – a city perched in one of Europe’s most climate-vulnerable regions – sustainable fisheries took center stage inside the conference halls. Action panels focused on supporting small-scale fishers and advancing inclusive ocean economies , with delegates exploring how to align conservation goals with social equity – especially in regions where millions depend on fishing for survival. We’re not apart from the ocean – we’re a part of it – FAO’s Manuel Barange “There are 600 million people worldwide who depend on fisheries and aquaculture for their liv...

FORUM : “ The role of aquaculture under climate change. ” World Fisheries Day 2024 . The Global fisheries and aquaculture production is at a record high and the sector will play an increasingly important role in providing food and nutrition in the future, according to a new report of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) . The biannual report, the State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA 2024) found that fisheries and aquaculture production reached a record 214 million tonnes in 2020, while the consumption of aquatic food (excluding algae) has increased at an average annual rate of 3.0% since 1961, almost twice that of the annual world population growth. Even though the sustainability of marine fishery resources remains of concern , most of the catch is coming from sustainable sources. The Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines) are the first inte...