The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2020

Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries
in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication
(SSF Guidelines)
are a tool for achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
The SSF Guidelines have 6 high-level objectives that are linked to the delivery of different SDGs.
Some key linkages are shown here.
SOURCE: FAO, 2019k.
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THE STATE OF WORLD FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE 
2020
Target 14.b, and to share related good practices 
around the world. 
Economic benefits from sustainable fisheries
Under the SDGs, SDG Target 14.7 is defined 
(United Nations, 2019b) thus: “By 2030, 
increase the economic benefits to small island 
developing States and least developed countries 
from the sustainable use of marine resources, 
including through sustainable management of 
fisheries, aquaculture and tourism.” Its related 
indicator, SDG Indicator 14.7.1, is defined thus: 
“Sustainable fisheries as a percentage of GDP in 
small island developing States, least developed 
countries and all countries.”
In 2019, FAO developed a methodology for 
SDG Indicator 14.7.1 that monitors the economic 
contribution of fisheries to national economies by 
calculating sustainable fisheries as a percentage 
of GDP.
During the development of the methodology, 
many countries endorsed this role of 
promoting the importance of the fisheries 
sector in the economy. Given the global 
nature of the SDGs, SDG Indicator 14.7.1 
was developed to be applicable to as many 
countries as possible with minimal additional 
reporting requirements for countries while still 
using internationally accepted inputs for all 
aspects of its calculation.
FAO’s methodology for SDG Indicator 14.7.1 
focuses only on the sustainable use of marine 
resources by fisheries. The methodology is 
built on three main inputs, which are all 
internationally recognized standards: GDP, value 
added to fisheries, and biological sustainability of 
fish stocks.
Gross domestic product is primarily a monetary 
and central measure for the value of final goods 
and services produced by a country. It has 
been recognized by international agencies, 
policymakers and public bodies, among others. 
When examining the value of goods and 
services produced by a specific sector, such as 
fisheries, the value added gives a representative 
figure for the size of an industry within a 
country’s economy.
Regarding the biological sustainability of fish 
stocks, FAO has been estimating the status 
and trends of fish stocks since 1974, currently 
covering 584 fish stocks around the world
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(representing 70 percent of global landings; 
see the section The status of fishery resources, 
p. 47). In addition, these assessments for 
each FAO major marine fishing area have 
laid solid foundations for the estimation of 
the sustainability multiplier – an important 
parameter for SDG Indicator 14.7.1. 
The indicator measures the value added of 
sustainable marine capture fisheries as a 
proportion of GDP. For each country, the 
sustainability multiplier will be the average 
sustainability weighted by the proportion of the 
quantity of marine capture for each respective 
fishing area in which the country performs 
fishing activities. When a country fishes in only 
one FAO fishing area, its sustainability multiplier 
will be equal to the average sustainability of 
stocks in that area.
At the country level, the percentage contribution 
of fisheries and aquaculture to GDP
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is 
estimated by simply dividing the value added 
of fisheries and aquaculture by national GDP. 
In order to disaggregate for the value added of 
marine capture fisheries and the value added of 
aquaculture, the quantity of fish produced from 
marine capture fisheries will be divided by the 
total quantity
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of national production of fish, 
and then multiplied by the percentage of GDP 
from fisheries and aquaculture. 
Subsequently, the value added of marine capture 
fisheries will be adjusted by the aforementioned 
sustainability multiplier to obtain the value 
for sustainable marine capture fisheries as a 
percentage of GDP.
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The base data from which stock status is modelled and a detailed 
description of the approach used by FAO are available in