The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, in its 2018 report on The State of the World Fisheries and Aquaculture, says that fish consumption and fishing is expected to increase in the coming 15 years, though at a slower rate than in prior decades. It predicts that by 2030, global fish production from capture and aquaculture will grow to 201 million tonnes, an 18 percent increase from the 2016 level of 171 million tonnes.
According to the report, the growth rate of fish consumption has risen faster than the consumption of any terrestrial animals. And who’s eating fish has changed dramatically. In 1961, the U.S., Japan, and Europe accounted for nearly 50 percent of fish consumption. Today, Asia accounts for more than two-thirds of fish consumption. Most fish measured in the report is used to feed humans, though some 12 percent is used for non-food purposes, like fishmeal and fish oil.
The report also found that a decreasing share of the world’s fish stocks are being maintained at sustainable levels. In 1974, 90 percent of stocks were sustainable, but by 2015, that percentage had fallen to 66.9. In the United States, regulators and fishing groups have battled over whether and how to cap fish production and best maintain fish stocks.
Nearly 60 million people globally worked in capture fisheries and aquaculture in 2016. The vast majority of those workers were employed in Asia. Aquaculture has grown steadily over the past 25 years, and today produces about 53 percent of the fish consumed by people.