This flagship publication is part ofThe State of the Worldseries of the Food and Agriculture Organizationof the United Nations. Required citation: FAO. 2026.The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2026 – Blue Transformation: turning vision into impact. Rome.https://doi.org/10.4060/cd8357en The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinionwhatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or developmentstatus of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.Dashed lines on maps represent approximate border lines for which there may not yet be full agreement. The mention of specificcompanies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsedor recommended by FAO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. ISSN 1020-5489(print)ISSN 2410-5902(online)ISBN 978-92-5-140453-9© FAO, 2026 Some rights reserved. This work is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution- 4.0 International licence (CCBY 4.0:https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.en). Under the terms of this licence, this work may be copied, redistributed and adapted, provided that the work is appropriately cited.In any use of this work, there should be no suggestion that FAO endorses any specific organization, products or services. The useof the FAO logo is not permitted. If a translation or adaptation of this work is created, it must include the following disclaimer alongwith the required citation: “This translation [or adaptation] was not created by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UnitedNations (FAO). FAO is not responsible for the content or accuracy of this translation [or adaptation]. The original English editionshall be the authoritative edition.” Any dispute arising under this licence that cannot be settled amicably shall be referred to arbitration in accordance with theArbitration Rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). The parties shall be bound by anyarbitration award rendered as a result of such arbitration as the final adjudication of such a dispute. Third-party materials.This Creative Commons licence CC BY 4.0 does not apply to non-FAO copyright materials included in thispublication. Users wishing to reuse material from this work that is attributed to a third party, such as tables, figures or images, areresponsible for determining whether permission is needed for that reuse and for obtaining permission from the copyright holder. Therisk of claims resulting from infringement of any third-party-owned component in the work rests solely with the user. FAO photographs.FAO photographs that may appear in this work are not subject to the above-mentioned Creative Commons licence.Queries for the use of any FAO photographs should be submitted to: photo-library@fao.org. Sales, rights and licensing.FAO information products are available on the FAO website (www.fao.org/publications) and print copiescan be purchased through the distributors listed there. For general enquiries about FAO publications please contact: publications@fao.org. Queries regarding rights and licensing of publications should be submitted to: copyright@fao.org. WORLD FISHERIESAND AQUACULTURETHE STATE OF2026 BLUE TRANSFORMATIONTURNING VISION INTO IMPACT Food and Agriculture Organization of the United NationsRome, 2026 CONTENTS FOREWORDviMETHODOLOGYviiiACKNOWLEDGEMENTSixABBREVIATIONSxiCORE MESSAGESxivEXECUTIVE SUMMARYxviiFISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE IN NUMBERSxxv PART 3CONTEMPORARY ISSUES AND OUTLOOK 161 From commitments to action161Multilateral fisheries management ina changing world165Climate projections for informing adaptationstrategies168A medium-term outlook for the fisheriesand aquaculture sector176 PART 1 WORLD REVIEW1 Global fisheries and aquaculture at a glance1Total fisheries and aquaculture production5Aquaculture production13Capture fisheries production28The status of fishery resources40Fishing fleet61Employment in fisheries and aquaculture66Utilization and processing72Aquatic food availability81Trade of aquatic products90 GLOSSARY188 NOTES192 TABLES 1.1World fisheries and aquaculture trends at aglance21.2World and regional aquaculture production andgrowth, 2000−2024131.3World aquaculture production of aquatic animalsby region and selected major producers,2000–2024171.4World inland aquaculture and marine andcoastal aquaculture production by region and mainspecies group, 2024231.5World production of major aquaculture speciesand main species groups271.6Capture fisheries production of aquatic animalsin marine areas by major producer311.7Capture fisheries production of aquatic animalsin marine areas by main species and genus331.8Capture fisheries production of aquatic animalsby