Global seafood consumption hits all-time high

Global per-capita seafood consumption reached 17 kilograms (live weight equivalent) in 2008, an all-time high, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization report “The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2010,” released on Monday.

Humans worldwide consumed 115 million tons of seafood in 2008, and global seafood production, including fish used for industrial purposes, totaled 142 million tons in 2008.

Aquaculture accounted for 46 percent of the global food fish supply, up from 43 percent in 2006, the last time the FAO released its report. Aquaculture continues to be the world’s fastest-growing animal food-producing sector, outpacing population growth, with per-capita production from aquaculture increasing from 0.7 kilograms in 1970 to 7.8 kilograms in 2008, an average annual growth rate of 6.6 percent.

China remains by far the largest fish-producing country, with production of 47.5 million tons in 2008, including 32.7 million and 14.8 million tons from aquaculture and wild fisheries, respectively. These figures were derived using a revised statistical methodology adopted by China in 2008 for all aquaculture and wild fisheries.

Globally, seafood provides more than 1.5 billion people with almost 20 percent of their average per-capita intake of animal protein and 3 billion people with at least 15 percent of animal protein.

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