12 countries switched to farming more fish than they catch

Claim types Fact · Estimate

FAO FishStat Global Production, release 2026.1.0 (March 2026), aquaculture production and capture production of aquatic animals (fish, crustaceans, molluscs and other aquatic animals; aquatic plants excluded), tonnes live weight, read from the FAO FishStat Global Production file via the progrss vault. Live spot-check on the World Bank API (WDI ER.FSH.AQUA.MT and ER.FSH.CAPT.MT, FAO data, last updated 8 Oct 2026, which include aquatic plants): India, Chile, Bangladesh and Ecuador agree exactly once aquatic plants are added (India 2024 catch 6,282,409 t animals + 74,083 t plants = WDI 6,356,492 t). Colombia is left out: FishStat gives 91,366 t of wild-caught aquatic animals in 2024 and WDI 493,550 t of catch, so its status depends on the source. WDI also gives Brazil a 2024 catch of 720,404 t against 664,484 t in FishStat (status unchanged); no other switcher changes status on WDI. Licence: CC BY 4.0 under the FAO Database Terms of Use (non-commercial; plates only). Set: the 138 countries and territories (Colombia excluded) whose farmed plus wild-caught production was at least 10,000 tonnes in both 2004 and 2024 (a fixed set; progrss calculation). A country 'farms more than it catches' when aquaculture production exceeds capture production in that year. 2004: 12 countries; 2024: 22. Switched to farming more (yellow, 12): India, Viet Nam, Bangladesh, Ecuador, Brazil, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Guatemala, Paraguay, Cuba, Bulgaria, Cyprus. Already farming more in 2004 and still in 2024 (10): China, Egypt, Lao PDR, Greece, Honduras, Nepal, Hungary, Czechia, Israel, Romania. Switched back to catching more (2): Iraq, Costa Rica. The 12 switchers together: farmed 5.44 to 23.64 Mt, wild catch 8.38 to 13.70 Mt (progrss sums). Estimates: FAO marks part of the tonnes as non-official estimates: India's 2024 wild catch (96% of tonnes), Ecuador's 2024 farmed output, all four Paraguay values, most of Guatemala's 2024 catch and 37% of Brazil's 2024 catch. Cyprus switched mainly because its wild catch fell (78.7 kt to 1.2 kt); Cuba's farmed output also halved. The map shows each country's farmed share of its fish and seafood in 2024. Related plates: 035 (the world's farmed seafood overtook the wild catch) and 235 (Japan's catch).