Significant growth in aquaculture has driven global fisheries and aquaculture production to a record high as aquatic foods make an increasingly critical contribution to food security and nutrition in the 21st century, according to a report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) released today.  

The 2022 edition of The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) says the growth of aquaculture, particularly in Asia, lifted total production of fisheries and aquaculture to an all-time high of 214 million tonnes in 2020, comprising 178 million tonnes of aquatic animals and 36 million tonnes of algae.

Production of aquatic animals in 2020 was 30 percent higher than the average in the 2000s and more than 60 percent above the average in the 1990s. Record aquaculture output of 87.5 million tonnes of aquatic animals largely drove these outcomes.