What is wild fish catch used for? by country

Countries reporting

136

Highest

2.80 million tonnes

China

Lowest

0.0001 tonnes

Montserrat

Median

68.99 tonnes

Years covered

1950–2015

Data points

8,720

What the numbers show

What is wild fish catch used for? is currently reported for 136 countries. The highest value is 2.80 million tonnes in China; the lowest is 0.0001 tonnes in Montserrat.

The median across all reporting countries is 68.99 tonnes, and the mean is 28,721 tonnes.

Over the past decade 70 countries rose and 64 fell. The largest increase was in Gambia (up 1,510.5%), and the largest decrease in Romania (down 99.4%).

What is wild fish catch used for?: full country ranking

#	Country	Latest	Year	10-year change	Trend
1	China	2.80 million tonnes	2015	up 40.9%	volatile
2	Thailand	289,100 tonnes	2015	down 56.7%	volatile
3	Indonesia	136,889 tonnes	2015	up 95.4%	volatile
4	Vietnam	133,418 tonnes	2015	up 19.7%	volatile
5	Myanmar	111,714 tonnes	2015	down 0.0%	volatile
6	Malaysia	69,732 tonnes	2015	up 29.5%	volatile
7	United States	67,013 tonnes	2015	down 12.6%	falling
8	Finland	42,440 tonnes	2015	up 22.4%	volatile
9	Australia	32,847 tonnes	2015	up 2.7%	volatile
10	Croatia	31,278 tonnes	2015	up 148.3%	volatile
11	South Africa	28,842 tonnes	2015	down 61.1%	volatile
12	Japan	27,928 tonnes	2015	down 61.2%	rising
13	Greenland	26,502 tonnes	2015	up 140.7%	volatile
14	India	18,625 tonnes	2015	up 78.6%	volatile
15	Mexico	16,192 tonnes	2015	down 6.6%	volatile
16	Turkey	9,865 tonnes	2015	up 27.1%	volatile
17	Morocco	6,623 tonnes	2015	up 7.2%	volatile
18	Solomon Islands	5,258 tonnes	2015	up 153.5%	volatile
19	France	5,170 tonnes	2015	down 1.3%	rising
20	Canada	4,306 tonnes	2015	down 35.4%	rising
21	Greece	4,178 tonnes	2015	down 3.8%	volatile
22	Hong Kong	3,719 tonnes	2015	down 18.7%	volatile
23	Russia	3,208 tonnes	2015	up 31.4%	volatile
24	Norway	2,790 tonnes	2015	up 55.4%	volatile
25	Pakistan	2,758 tonnes	2015	up 55.2%	volatile
26	Italy	2,499 tonnes	2015	down 18.0%	volatile
27	Angola	2,220 tonnes	2015	up 166.0%	volatile
28	Sweden	2,082 tonnes	2015	down 28.2%	rising
29	Ecuador	1,812 tonnes	2015	up 3.9%	volatile
30	Spain	1,572 tonnes	2015	down 22.3%	volatile
31	Fiji	1,115 tonnes	2015	up 23.5%	volatile
32	Cape Verde	985.65 tonnes	2015	down 3.0%	rising
33	Kiribati	977.87 tonnes	2015	down 55.3%	volatile
34	South Korea	780.34 tonnes	2015	down 0.5%	volatile
35	Yemen	718.63 tonnes	2015	down 30.3%	volatile
36	Portugal	662.37 tonnes	2015	down 64.9%	volatile
37	Panama	639.25 tonnes	2015	down 40.8%	volatile
38	Argentina	529.88 tonnes	2015	down 3.5%	volatile
39	Chile	514.44 tonnes	2015	up 20.5%	volatile
40	Mauritania	426.24 tonnes	2015	up 76.6%	volatile
41	Taiwan	373.94 tonnes	2015	up 148.0%	rising
42	Bangladesh	359.4 tonnes	2015	up 31.8%	volatile
43	Netherlands	357.48 tonnes	2015	down 33.9%	rising
44	United Kingdom	297.59 tonnes	2015	up 29.0%	rising
45	Peru	278.81 tonnes	2015	up 63.4%	volatile
46	Namibia	278.22 tonnes	2015	down 0.2%	volatile
47	Brazil	245.59 tonnes	2015	up 4.1%	rising
48	Denmark	221.71 tonnes	2015	down 19.0%	rising
49	Iceland	209.88 tonnes	2015	down 23.1%	rising
50	Poland	201.6 tonnes	2015	up 67.4%	volatile
51	Iran	189.1 tonnes	2015	up 55.5%	rising
52	New Zealand	184.51 tonnes	2015	up 23.5%	rising
53	Philippines	145.83 tonnes	2015	down 6.8%	volatile
54	Tuvalu	132.07 tonnes	2015	up 73.1%	volatile
55	Saudi Arabia	127.83 tonnes	2015	up 40.3%	volatile
56	Senegal	124.42 tonnes	2015	up 38.1%	rising
57	Germany	122.22 tonnes	2015	down 28.0%	falling
58	Venezuela	111.34 tonnes	2015	down 46.3%	volatile
59	Ukraine	107.5 tonnes	2015	down 96.9%	volatile
60	Sri Lanka	104.95 tonnes	2015	up 318.8%	volatile
61	Marshall Islands	93.45 tonnes	2015	up 34.1%	volatile
62	Oman	91.15 tonnes	2015	up 166.4%	rising
63	Cambodia	85.22 tonnes	2015	up 82.2%	volatile
65	Latvia	75.77 tonnes	2015	down 74.2%	volatile
66	Singapore	75.02 tonnes	2015	down 66.1%	volatile
67	Estonia	73.11 tonnes	2015	down 30.7%	rising
68	Lithuania	72.27 tonnes	2015	down 49.6%	volatile
69	Georgia	70.34 tonnes	2015	up 452.3%	volatile
70	Faroe Islands	67.64 tonnes	2015	down 31.2%	rising
71	Madagascar	57.07 tonnes	2015	up 27.5%	volatile
72	Belize	53.16 tonnes	2015	down 55.8%	falling
73	Sierra Leone	50.5 tonnes	2015	down 4.8%	rising
74	Saint Pierre and Miquelon	42.39 tonnes	2015	down 72.0%	volatile
75	Samoa	38.69 tonnes	2015	down 6.0%	volatile
77	Vanuatu	37.78 tonnes	2015	up 3.3%	volatile
78	Uruguay	36.51 tonnes	2015	down 45.0%	volatile
79	Tunisia	25.37 tonnes	2015	up 8.6%	volatile
80	Algeria	23.73 tonnes	2015	down 18.9%	volatile
81	United Arab Emirates	19.59 tonnes	2015	down 14.5%	volatile
82	Palau	18.1 tonnes	2015	down 13.7%	volatile
83	Gambia	14.41 tonnes	2015	up 1,510.5%	volatile
84	Libya	14.03 tonnes	2015	down 34.7%	volatile
85	Cuba	12.8 tonnes	2015	down 13.2%	volatile
86	Belgium	12.72 tonnes	2015	up 2.2%	falling
87	Guinea	11.36 tonnes	2015	up 369.5%	volatile
88	North Korea	10.68 tonnes	2015	up 12.4%	rising
89	Togo	9.89 tonnes	2015	up 23.3%	falling
90	Colombia	8.77 tonnes	2015	up 8.4%	volatile
91	El Salvador	7.22 tonnes	2015	down 20.6%	volatile
92	Liberia	6.9 tonnes	2015	up 1,113.5%	volatile
93	Congo	5.59 tonnes	2015	down 49.9%	volatile
94	Brunei	5.51 tonnes	2015	down 3.1%	volatile
95	Albania	5.19 tonnes	2015	up 104.7%	volatile
96	Guatemala	4.82 tonnes	2015	up 12.8%	volatile
97	Guam	4.59 tonnes	2015	down 74.3%	volatile
98	Equatorial Guinea	4.03 tonnes	2015	up 79.0%	volatile
99	Bulgaria	3.45 tonnes	2015	down 58.8%	volatile
100	Cameroon	2.99 tonnes	2015	down 29.1%	volatile
101	Trinidad and Tobago	2.98 tonnes	2015	down 32.0%	rising
102	Gabon	2.85 tonnes	2015	down 57.7%	volatile
103	Eritrea	1.95 tonnes	2015	up 7.6%	volatile
104	Suriname	1.48 tonnes	2015	up 52.7%	volatile
105	Benin	1.29 tonnes	2015	down 44.3%	volatile
106	Dominican Republic	1.01 tonnes	2015	down 35.6%	volatile
107	Montenegro	0.8711 tonnes	2015	up 34.2%	rising
108	Democratic Republic of Congo	0.818 tonnes	2015	up 16.3%	volatile
110	Sao Tome and Principe	0.6116 tonnes	2015	up 315.5%	volatile
111	Haiti	0.6043 tonnes	2015	up 52.7%	volatile
112	Saint Lucia	0.5672 tonnes	2015	down 0.6%	volatile
113	Nicaragua	0.4686 tonnes	2015	up 76.5%	volatile
114	Syria	0.3861 tonnes	2015	up 247.8%	volatile
115	Puerto Rico	0.2781 tonnes	2015	up 154.7%	falling
117	Maldives	0.2132 tonnes	2015	—	falling
118	Romania	0.1916 tonnes	2015	down 99.4%	volatile
119	Slovenia	0.1769 tonnes	2015	down 99.1%	volatile
120	Honduras	0.1258 tonnes	2015	down 3.5%	volatile
121	Israel	0.1085 tonnes	2015	up 29.4%	volatile
122	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	0.0924 tonnes	2015	up 194.3%	volatile
123	Jamaica	0.0912 tonnes	2015	up 70.8%	volatile
124	Saint Kitts and Nevis	0.0876 tonnes	2015	down 37.1%	volatile
125	Palestine	0.0797 tonnes	2015	up 9.1%	volatile
126	British Virgin Islands	0.068 tonnes	2015	up 0.1%	volatile
127	Turks and Caicos Islands	0.0668 tonnes	2015	up 75.3%	volatile
128	Aruba	0.066 tonnes	2015	up 19.3%	volatile
129	Barbados	0.0594 tonnes	2015	up 0.4%	rising
130	Anguilla	0.0497 tonnes	2015	down 9.5%	rising
131	Qatar	0.0372 tonnes	2015	unchanged	falling
132	Bermuda	0.031 tonnes	2015	up 1.3%	volatile
133	Grenada	0.0208 tonnes	2015	up 145.7%	volatile
134	Falkland Islands	0.0179 tonnes	2015	up 96.8%	rising
135	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0.0081 tonnes	2015	up 0.0%	volatile
136	Curacao	0.0073 tonnes	2015	down 41.0%	rising
137	Dominica	0.0013 tonnes	2015	down 83.7%	volatile
138	Reunion	0.0013 tonnes	2015	down 86.0%	volatile
139	United States Virgin Islands	0.0002 tonnes	2015	down 99.0%	volatile
140	Montserrat	0.0001 tonnes	2015	down 48.6%	volatile

About this data

Indicator: What is wild fish catch used for?
Unit: tonnes
Source: Sea Around Us (2020) – processed by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 140 places, 8,720 data points, 1950–2015
Last refreshed: 07 August 2026