Medidas de Gestao das Pescarias Marinhas e Aquicultura 2019 The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2018 | Page 23

THE STATE OF WORLD FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE 2018
produced from fish by-products, which previously
were often wasted. It is estimated that
by-products account for about 25 to 35 percent of
the total volume of fishmeal and fish oil
produced. Fishmeal and fish oil are still
considered the most nutritious and most
digestible ingredients for farmed fish feeds, but
their inclusion rates in compound feeds for
aquaculture have shown a clear downward trend
as they are used more selectively.
Preparation of The State of World Fisheries and
Aquaculture relies heavily on FAO’s fisher y and
aquaculture statistics. FAO is the only source
of global fisheries and aquaculture statistics.
These statistics are structured within different
data collections (capture and aquaculture
production, stocks status, fish commodities
production and trade, fishers and fish farmers,
fishing vessels, and apparent fish
consumption) and are made available to
external users through different formats and
tools. 4 FAO has established a series of
mechanisms to ensure that the best available
information is submitted by countries
according to international standards. The data
are then carefully and consistently collated,
revised and validated, either directly (e.g.
through food balance sheets) or indirectly (e.g.
using consumption sur veys). In the absence of
national reporting – a concern noted in several
sections of Part 1 of this publication – FAO
may make estimates based on the best data
available from other sources or through
standard methodologies, or may simply repeat
previous values, which diminishes the accuracy
of the statistics. Complete, accurate and timely
national statistics are critical for monitoring
the fisheries and aquaculture sectors, for
supporting policy development and
implementation at the national, regional and
international levels, and for measuring
progress towards meeting the Sustainable
Development Goals. The importance of countr y
reporting of fisheries and aquaculture data to
FAO, in accordance with the obligations of
FAO membership, is highlighted, and FAO
continues to enhance countries’ capacit y to
collect these data. n
Fish and fish products are some of the most
traded food items in the world today. In 2016,
about 35 percent of global fish production
entered international trade in various forms for
human consumption or non-edible purposes.
The 60 million tonnes (live weight equivalent) of
total fish and fish products exported in 2016
represent a 245 percent increase over 1976.
During the same period, world trade in fish and
fish products also g rew sig nificantly in value
terms, w ith exports rising from USD 8 billion in
1976 to USD 143 billion in 2016. In the past 40
years the rate of g rowth of exports from
developing countries has been sig nificantly
faster than that of exports from developed
countries. Reg ional trade ag reements have
contributed to this g rowth through the
increased reg ionalization of fish trade since the
1990s, w ith reg ional trade f lows increasing
faster than external trade f lows. In 2016, trade
increased by 7 percent over the year before, and
in 2017 economic g rowth streng thened demand
and lifted prices, again increasing the value of
global fish exports by about 7 percent to peak at
an estimated USD 152 billion.
China is the main fish producer and since 2002
has also been the largest exporter of fish and
fish products, although the rapid growth of the
1990s and 2000s has subsequently slowed. After
China, the major exporters in 2016 were
Norway, Viet Nam and Thailand. The European
Union (EU) represented the largest single
market for fish and fish products, followed by
the United States of America and Japan; in 2016
these three markets together accounted for
approximately 64 percent of the total value of
world imports of fish and fish products. Over
the course of 2016 and 2017, fish imports grew
in all three markets as a result of strengthened
economic fundamentals.
CAPTURE FISHERIES
PRODUCTION
Global total capture fisheries production, as
derived from the FAO capture database, was 90.9
million tonnes in 2016, a decrease in comparison
to the two previous years (see Table 1 in
“Over view”, above). Catch trends in marine and
4  Information on the different formats, tools and products through
which users can access FAO fisheries and aquaculture statistics is
available at: www.fao.org/fishery/statistics
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