Highlights from the FAO database on aquaculture production statistics - Alan Lowther^[11]

The FAO Fisheries database of statistics on aquaculture production and values has been updated to include data for 2003. Total aquaculture production of aquatic animals (i.e., excluding aquatic plants) for 2003 was reported to be 42.3 million tonnes^[12] with a farm-gate value of US$ 61.0 billion. With the inclusion of aquatic plants, the production increases to 54.8 million tonnes with a value of US$ 67.3 billion. Growth in global aquaculture remains strong as these figures represent an increase in production of 6.2 percent from the total aquaculture production reported for 2002, and a 5.8 percent increase when only aquatic animals are considered. Considering the ten-year period from 1993-2003, total aquaculture production shows an average annual increase of 9.4 percent.

For aquaculture of aquatic animals, China continues to far exceed the production of other nations accounting for over two-thirds of the global total. The top ten producing countries for 2003 are in listed in Table 1. These countries account for 88.0 percent of the total global production. The top seven producing nations are all from Asia and, in 2003, the countries of Asia were responsible for 88.8 percent of production, followed by Europe (5.2 percent), South America (2.4 percent), North America (2.1 percent), Africa (1.2 percent) and Oceania (0.3 percent).

The species with the greatest production volume was the Pacific cupped oyster (Crassostrea gigas) with 4.4 million tonnes, followed by three species of carps - silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix), grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus) and common carp (Cyprinus carpio). In terms of ISSCAAP (International Standard Statistical Classification of Aquatic Animals and Plants; http://www.fao.org/fi/statist/fisoft/asfis/asfis.asp) groups of species, by far the most production is in the group consisting of carps and other cyprinids. In addition to the three carps already mentioned, the bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis) and the Crucian carp (Carassius carassius) also had production over 1.5 million tonnes in 2003. The top ten ISSCAAP species groups in terms of production are listed in Table 2. If aquatic plants are included, the species with the highest production is Japanese kelp (Laminaria japonica) with a production of 4.6 million tonnes.

For 2003, carps were the species group with the highest reported value - US$ 15.4 billion. They were followed by shrimp and prawns (US$ 9.3 billion), miscellaneous freshwater fishes (US$ 5.6 billion), salmons and trouts (US$ 5.6 billion), clams and cockles (US$ 4.3 billion) and oysters (US$ 3.8 billion). The highest reported value for a single species was US$ 3.8 billion for the whiteleg shrimp (Penaeus vannamei), followed by Pacific cupped oyster, giant tiger prawn (Penaeus monodon) and Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar).

While production from capture fisheries has been relatively constant over the last twenty years, the growth of aquaculture has resulted in aquaculture being responsible for an everincreasing share of global fisheries production. This share has increased from 3.9 percent in 1970 to 31.9 percent in 2003 (Fig. 1) and likely will continue to increase for the near future. Naturally, as aquaculture production increases, a larger proportion of the fishery food supply will come from aquaculture. This is particularly striking in China where more than three-quarters of the fish food supply comes from aquaculture. The share of the fishery food supply from aquaculture for the rest of the world is less (20 percent in 2003), but is also increasing (Fig. 2). Food supply is calculated by subtracting the part of the catch that is used for meal, oils and other non-food uses. Furthermore, it is assumed that all aquaculture production is for human consumption.

Table 1: Top ten countries in aquaculture production of aquatic animals in 2003

Note: Includes fish, crustaceans, molluscs and amphibians

Table 2: Top ten ISSCAAP species groups for aquaculture production of aquatic animals (not including aquatic plants) for 2003