Inland Fisheries

1.4.6 Production trend in world inland capture fisheries production

In 1950, inland fisheries produced about 2 million tonnes in terms of fish landings. The figure was about 5 million tonnes in 1980, and, after steady growth of 2–3 percent per year, 10 million tonnes in 2008. This growth occurred mainly in Asia and Africa, with Latin America making a small contribution. Asia and Africa regularly account for about 90 percent of reported landings. The remaining 10 percent is split between North and South America and Europe. However, much uncertainty surrounds both the trend in and the level of production.

Figure 4: Production in inland fisheries reported by FAO since 1950

The following table (Table 3) shows the contribution made by the inland capture fisheries sector to the total world capture fisheries production (in million tonnes) during 2004-2009.

Table 3: World inland capture fisheries and total capture fisheries production during 2004 - 2009

(In million tonnes)	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Inland capture	8.6	9.4	9.8	10.0	10.2	10.1
Total capture	92.4	92.1	89.7	89.9	89.7	90.0

The world inland capture fisheries production ranged from 8.6 million tonnes. contributing 9.30% of total capture fisheries production in 2004 to 10.1 million tonnes, contributing 11.22% in 2009. Africa and Asia together continue to contribute about 90% percent of the world total and their shares are also fairly stable. Inland fisheries, however, seem to be in crisis in Europe, where the total catches have decreased by 30 percent since 1999. The decline in professional fishing in European inland waters can be attributed partly to competition with other human activities in the use of the inland water resources and also to the failing economic viability of many commercial inland fisheries. A considerable portion of catches comes from the recreational fishery.