The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2020

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PART 1 
WORLD REVIEW
produced in the sea, with some exceptions for 
countries such as Egypt and species such as 
turbot in Europe (
Table 7
).
Mariculture and coastal aquaculture 
collectively produced 30.8 million tonnes 
(USD 106.5 billion) of aquatic animals in 
2018. Despite technological developments 
in marine finfish aquaculture, marine and 
coastal aquaculture produce currently many 
more molluscs than finfish and crustaceans. 
In 2018, shelled molluscs (17.3 million 
tonnes) represented 56.2 percent of the 
production of marine and coastal aquaculture. 
Finfish (7.3 million tonnes) and crustaceans 
(5.7 million tonnes) taken together were 
responsible for 42.5 percent.
Aquaculture production with
and without feeding
Fed aquaculture production has outpaced that 
of the non-fed subsector in world aquaculture. 
The contribution of non-fed aquaculture in total 
farmed aquatic animal production continued to 
decline from 43.9 percent in 2000 to 30.5 percent 
in 2018 (
Figure 11
), although its annual production 
continued to expand in absolute terms. 
In 2018, total non-fed aquaculture production 
increased to 25 million tonnes, consisting of 
8 million tonnes of filter-feeding finfish raised 
in inland aquaculture (mainly silver carp 
[
Hypophthalmichthys molitrix
] and bighead carp 
[
Hypophthalmichthys nobilis
]) and 17 million 
tonnes of aquatic invertebrates, mainly marine 
bivalve molluscs raised in seas, lagoons and 
coastal ponds.
TABLE 6
AQUACULTURE PRODUCTION OF MAIN SPECIES GROUPS BY CONTINENT IN 2018
Category
Africa
Americas
Asia
(– Cyprus)
Europe
(+ Cyprus)
Oceania
World
(thousand tonnes, live weight)
Inland aquaculture
1. Finfish
1 893
1 139
43 406
508
5
46 951
2. Crustacea
0
73
3 579
0
0
3 653
3. Molluscs
…
…
207
…
…
207
4. Other aquatic animals
…
1
528
0
…
528
Subtotal
1 893
1 213
47 719
508
6
51 339
Marine and coastal aquaculture
1. Finfish
291
1 059
3 995
1 892
92
7 328
2. Crustacea
6
888
4 834
0
6
5 734
3. Molluscs
6
640
15 876
680
102
17 304
4. Other aquatic animals
0
…
387
3
0
390
Subtotal
302
2 587
25 093
2 575
200
30 756
All aquaculture
1. Finfish
2 184
2 197
47 400
2 399
97
54 279
2. Crustacea
6
961
8 414
0
6
9 387
3. Molluscs
6
640
16 083
680
102
17 511
4. Other aquatic animals
0
1
915
3
0
919
Total
2 196
3 799
72 812
3 083
205
82 095
NOTES: 0 = production quantity below 500 tonnes; … = no production, or production data unavailable.
SOURCE: FAO.
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THE STATE OF WORLD FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE 
2020
In polyculture operations, feeds used for fed 
species may also be harvested by filter-feeding 
species, depending on the type and quality of 
feeds. At the same time, specially designed feeds 
are commercially produced and used by some 
farmers for bighead carp in southern China, 
for razor clams in east and northeast coastal 
provinces in China, and for hard clams in Taiwan 
Province of China. In Europe, a new practice 
has emerged of keeping oyster juveniles in 
indoor tanks for grow-out to marketable size by 
feeding them with microalgae of selected species 
artificially produced in outdoor ponds.
Stocking of filter-feeding carps in multispecies 
polyculture farming systems is a common practice 
in Asia, Central and Eastern Europe and Latin 
America. It enhances overall fish productivity by 
utilizing natural food and improving the water 
quality in the production system. In recent years, 
another filter-feeding finfish species, Mississippi 
paddlefish (
Polyodon spathula
), has emerged in 
polyculture in a few countries, particularly in 
China, where the production volume is estimated 
to be several thousand tonnes. In addition 
to filter-feeding finfish, freshwater bivalves, 
including those species that are produced for 
freshwater pearl production, are now utilized 
for aquaculture-effluent treatment on individual 
farms as well as under communal-setting 
clustering of several farms.
Marine bivalves, filter-feeding organisms that 
extract organic matter from water for growth, 
and seaweeds, which grow by photosynthesis 
by absorbing dissolved nutrients, are sometimes 
described as extractive species. When farmed 
in the same area with fed species, they benefit 
the environment by removing waste materials, 
including waste from fed species, thus lowering 
TABLE 7
AQUACULTURE PRODUCTION OF AQUATIC ALGAE BY MAJOR PRODUCERS
2000
2005
2010
2015
2016
2017
2018
(thousand tonnes, live weight)
China
8 227.6
10 774.1
12 179.7
15 537.9
16 427.4
17 461.7
18 505.7
Indonesia
205.2
910.6
3 915.0
11 269.3
11 050.3
10 547.6
9 320.3
Republic of Korea
374.5
621.2
901.7
1 197.1
1 351.3
1 761.5
1 710.5
Philippines
707.0
1 338.6
1 801.3
1 566.4
1 404.5
1 415.3
1 478.3
Democratic People's 
Republic of Korea
401.0
444.3
445.3
491.0
553.0
553.0
553.0
Japan
528.6
507.7
432.8
400.2
391.2
407.8
389.8
Malaysia
16.1
40.0
207.9
260.8
206.0
203.0
174.1
Zanzibar, United 
Republic of Tanzania
49.9
73.6
125.2
172.5
111.1
109.8
103.2
China
…
48.5
93.6
81.2
73.4
71.9
69.6
Chile
33.5
15.5
12.2
12.0
14.8
16.7
20.7
Viet Nam
15.0
15.0
18.2
13.1
11.2
10.8
19.3
Solomon Islands
…
2.6
7.1
12.2
10.6
4.8
5.5
Madagascar
0.7
0.9
4.0
15.4
17.4
17.4
5.3
India
…
1.1
4.2
3.0
2.0
4.9
5.3
Russian Federation
3.0
0.2
0.6
2.0
1.2
1.5
4.5
Other producers
33.4
37.3
25.6
29.8
25.1
25.2
21.0
Total
10 595.6
14 831.3
20 174.3
31 063.8
31 650.5
32 612.9
32 386.2
NOTE: … = no production, or production data unavailable.
SOURCE: FAO.