Fishing fleet — Vessels by country
The dataset covers the number and gross tonnage of national active fishing vessels—vessels that, at the time of reporting, are active and engaged solely in catching operations. This includes all types of vessels: industrial and artisanal, motorized and unmotorized, decked and undecked, fishing in marine and inland...
What the numbers show
Fishing fleet — Vessels is currently reported for 28 countries. The highest value is 10.02 million Gross tonnage in China; the lowest is 1,622 Gross tonnage in Romania.
The median across all reporting countries is 128,640 Gross tonnage, and the mean is 537,384 Gross tonnage.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 6,175.
Over the past decade 14 countries rose and 14 fell. The largest increase was in Brazil (up 550.8%), and the largest decrease in Colombia (down 30.7%).
Fishing fleet — Vessels: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | 10.02 million Gross tonnage | 2021 | up 4.6% | rising |
| 2 | Japan | 876,055 Gross tonnage | 2022 | down 15.1% | falling |
| 3 | Taiwan, China | 563,019 Gross tonnage | 2022 | down 3.5% | falling |
| 4 | Peru | 498,559 Gross tonnage | 2022 | up 44.4% | volatile |
| 5 | Norway | 463,070 Gross tonnage | 2022 | up 26.7% | rising |
| 6 | Thailand | 445,503 Gross tonnage | 2015 | up 1.0% | falling |
| 7 | Spain | 317,920 Gross tonnage | 2022 | down 17.6% | falling |
| 8 | Mexico | 227,027 Gross tonnage | 2022 | up 6.0% | flat |
| 9 | Brazil | 212,610 Gross tonnage | 2022 | up 550.8% | volatile |
| 10 | Argentina | 192,517 Gross tonnage | 2022 | up 6.9% | falling |
| 11 | France | 175,236 Gross tonnage | 2022 | up 4.1% | falling |
| 12 | Chile | 166,901 Gross tonnage | 2022 | down 17.3% | flat |
| 13 | Iceland | 150,216 Gross tonnage | 2018 | up 2.5% | falling |
| 14 | Italy | 146,825 Gross tonnage | 2022 | down 11.0% | falling |
| 15 | New Zealand | 110,454 Gross tonnage | 2022 | down 4.1% | falling |
| 16 | Portugal | 86,311 Gross tonnage | 2022 | down 13.6% | falling |
| 17 | Denmark | 71,585 Gross tonnage | 2022 | up 7.9% | falling |
| 18 | Ireland | 69,891 Gross tonnage | 2022 | up 7.3% | falling |
| 19 | Greece | 65,527 Gross tonnage | 2022 | down 17.5% | falling |
| 20 | Germany | 55,262 Gross tonnage | 2022 | down 14.0% | falling |
| 21 | Australia | 41,075 Gross tonnage | 2022 | up 16.2% | falling |
| 22 | Sweden | 25,937 Gross tonnage | 2022 | down 15.3% | falling |
| 23 | Costa Rica | 19,013 Gross tonnage | 2022 | up 120.1% | volatile |
| 24 | Finland | 14,692 Gross tonnage | 2022 | down 10.7% | falling |
| 25 | Belgium | 14,128 Gross tonnage | 2022 | down 6.1% | falling |
| 26 | Colombia | 14,123 Gross tonnage | 2022 | down 30.7% | falling |
| 27 | Bulgaria | 5,869 Gross tonnage | 2022 | down 16.9% | falling |
| 28 | Romania | 1,622 Gross tonnage | 2022 | up 158.3% | flat |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
- Korea 533,702 Gross tonnage
- United Kingdom 202,253 Gross tonnage
- Türkiye 176,316 Gross tonnage
- Netherlands 116,806 Gross tonnage
- Croatia 42,996 Gross tonnage
- Poland 35,180 Gross tonnage
- Lithuania 35,029 Gross tonnage
- Latvia 33,267 Gross tonnage
- Estonia 16,070 Gross tonnage
- Slovenia 673 Gross tonnage
About this data
The dataset covers the number and gross tonnage of national active fishing vessels—vessels that, at the time of reporting, are active and engaged solely in catching operations. This includes all types of vessels: industrial and artisanal, motorized and unmotorized, decked and undecked, fishing in marine and inland waters. Data are broken down by length classes, expressed in meters. The unit of measure ‘Vessels’ should be read as ‘Number of vessels’. Fishing fleet - General notes Fishing fleet - Notes on individual countries and areas