France vs Spain: Fish discards

France

96,060

in 2018

Spain

174,809

in 2018

France rank

15th

Spain rank

12th

Fish discards over time

France
Spain

How they compare

Spain currently reports 174,809 against 96,060 in France, a difference of 78,749.

That makes Spain's figure about 1.8 times France's.

Across all 69 years both countries report, Spain has been ahead every year.

France ranks 15th and Spain ranks 12th of 161 countries.

Individual pages

Fish discards in France
Fish discards in Spain
Full country ranking

About this data

Indicator: Fish discards
Source: Sea Around Us (2020) – processed by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 161 places, 9,371 data points, 1950–2018
Last refreshed: 07 August 2026

Discards are animals thrown back (alive or dead) into the sea after being caught during fishing activities. This represents bycatch (fish caught unintentionally) that is not brought ashore for use.