The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2020

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THE STATE OF WORLD FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE 
2020
FIGURE 17
DISTRIBUTION OF MOTORIZED FISHING VESSELS BY REGION, 2018
ASIA
AFRICA
AMERICAS
EUROPE
OCEANIA
74.5%
9.8%
11.9%
0.5%
3.4%
SOURCE: FAO.
FIGURE 16
PROPORTION OF MOTORIZED AND NON-MOTORIZED FISHING VESSELS BY REGION, 2018
Asia
Africa
Americas
Europe
Oceania
Non-motorized
PERCENTAGE
Motorized
0
20
40
70
60
10
30
50
80
NOTE: Totals sum to 100 percent across categories, not by region.
SOURCE: FAO.
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PART 1 
WORLD REVIEW
There has both been a global downward trend 
in the number of fishing vessels, but also an 
adjustment in national and regional totals as an 
outcome of a comprehensive process conducted 
by FAO to revise and improve the fleet data 
for the period of 1995–2017. This period was 
selected as the focal time frame as it allows for 
the development and presentation of more than 
20 years of historical data in more detailed form. 
The workflow followed a routine of working in 
close communication with Members to revise 
historical data, uncover new data sources, control 
data errors, and make imputations as necessary. 
Size distribution of vessels
and the importance of small boats
In 2018, about 82 percent of the motorized 
fishing vessels (which had a known length 
classification) in the world were in the 
LOA class of less than 12 m, the majority 
of which were undecked, and those small 
vessels dominated in all regions (
Figure 18
). 
Asia had the largest absolute number of 
motorized vessels under 12 m, followed by 
the Americas (particularly Latin American 
and the Caribbean). Only about 3 percent of 
all motorized fishing vessels were 24 m and 
larger (roughly more than 100 gross tonnage) 
and the proportion of these large boats was 
highest in Oceania, Europe and North America. 
Worldwide, FAO estimated there were about 
67 800 fishing vessels with an LOA of at least 
24 m. This figure is the outcome of collaborative 
work detailed in 
Box 3
and of the routine work to 
improve data quality and accuracy. One area of