The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2020

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PART 1 
WORLD REVIEW
The FAO Food Balance Sheets (FBS) present a 
comprehensive and consolidated methodological 
approach to assess the pattern of a country’s 
food supply and its utilization on an annual basis. 
The compilation of the FBS, according to FAO’s 
current methodology, is a statistical exercise 
drawing together data from various sectors on 
the basis of information available on an annual 
basis. Fish and fish products contained in the FBS 
do not represent individual commodities, but the 
aggregation of different species and products. 
About 2 400 species produced and 1 000 items 
traded are conveyed into eight main groups of 
similar biological characteristic, reflecting FAO’s 
International Standard Statistical Classification 
of Aquatic Animals and Plants. The eight groups 
are: freshwater and diadromous fish; demersal 
fish; pelagic fish; marine fish other; crustaceans; 
molluscs, excluding cephalopods; cephalopods; and 
other aquatic animals.
Production (capture and aquaculture) and trade 
raw data are aggregated into the 8 main groups also 
according to 11 product types, on the basis of the 
processing they undergo (fresh or chilled whole, 
frozen whole, filleted fresh or chilled, filleted frozen, 
cured, canned, prepared, reduced to meal and oils, 
etc.). Products are then balanced according to the 
following equation, valid for each series of primary 
and processed fishery commodities, prepared on a 
calendar-year and country-by-country basis: 
domestic production (capture fisheries and 
aquaculture), 
minus
non-food uses (including 
amount used for reduction into fishmeal and fish 
oil and other non-food uses), 
minus
food fish 
exports, 
plus
food fish imports, 
plus
or 
minus
variation in stocks 
Specific food composition factors are then applied to 
the related supply of each product type in order to 
obtain calories, proteins and fats. In order to have 
data-comparable statistics in homogeneous units 
applicable to all countries in the world, data are 
then converted into primary equivalent (live weight 
equivalent, i.e. the weight of the fish at the time of 
harvest) using specific technical conversion factors. 
The result corresponds to total apparent food fish 
consumption, which can be expressed in per capita 
terms when divided by population on a 
country-by-country basis. 
In analysing FBS data, it is important to consider 
that they refer to “average food available for human 
consumption” and not to the amount effectively 
eaten. The latter can only be monitored through 
other types of analysis and surveys, such as 
household surveys or individual food consumption 
surveys. Moreover, data for production from 
subsistence and recreational fisheries, as well as for 
cross-border trade between some developing 
countries, may be incomplete, which may lead to 
underestimation of consumption. 
The FBS data are generally used to support 
policy analysis and decision-making, to provide an 
assessment of self-sufficiency, to estimate whether 
the adequate nutritional requirements are met, and 
as a major element for projection of food demand. 
For fish and fish products, they also represent a 
useful tool to monitor the development in overall 
domestic fish availability and utilization, reveal 
changes in the types of species consumed, and give 
an indication of the role of fish in total food supply 
and its share in animal and overall proteins. 
Moreover, they represent a powerful instrument to 
further verify, and cross-check, the quality of the 
data collected, linking the production (capture and 
aquaculture) to its utilization. The FBS results reflect 
the quality of the data collected. Therefore, FAO 
works continuously to improve these statistics, in 
addition to striving to adopt the most correct 
methodology, and the food composition data and 
conversion factors for the FBS calculation. In recent 
years, major efforts have also been devoted to 
making fishery FBS data available to users through 
a wider range of platforms and tools.
BOX 5
FAO FOOD BALANCE SHEETS OF FISH AND FISH PRODUCTS
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THE STATE OF WORLD FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE 
2020
PUFAs and micronutrients, such as vitamins and 
minerals. Fish provided an average of only about 
35 calories per capita per day in 2017, exceeding 
100 calories per capita per day in countries where 
a preference for fish has developed and endured 
traditionally (e.g. Iceland, Japan, Norway and the 
Republic of Korea) and where alternative proteins 
are not easily accessible (e.g. the Faroe Islands, 
Greenland, and several small island developing 
States [SIDS] such as the Cook Islands, 
Kiribati, Maldives and Tokelau). The dietary 
contribution of fish is more significant in terms 
of high-quality animal proteins, PUFAs and 
micronutrients of fundamental importance for 
diversified and healthy diets. Fish proteins are 
essential in the diet of some densely populated 
countries where the total protein intake is low,