Helostoma temminckii or kissing gourami. Image by Jörn, Wikimedia Commons.
Fisherman casting net at sunset in Mandalay. Photo by Pyae Phyo Aung, Pexels.
Official statistics from most coastal countries only account for a fraction of what their fisheries catch, the Sea Around Us data and analyses have demonstrated.
As we observe World Fisheries Day 2025, which aims to highlight the importance of promoting sustainable fish stocks and the rights of small-scale fishing communities, it is crucial to remember that without comprehensive data, managing sustainable fisheries is akin to flying blind.
Starting in the second half of 2024, the Sea Around Us team embarked on a large-scale project aimed at reviewing the catch reconstructions available in the database for every maritime country and territory, and updating them to 2022.
Port of Dakar. Photo by Garth Cripps ©, Coalition for Fisheries Transparency.
The decades-long overexploitation of the marine fisheries resources of most West African countries is one of the top drivers of illegal immigration to Europe via deadly routes through the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the Strait of Gibraltar.
Mogadishu’s fish market. Image by AMISOM Public Information, Wikimedia Commons.
Indian Ocean fisheries are vital for global nutrition as they provide 12 per cent of wild-caught seafood worldwide which, in turn, corresponds to nearly 30 per cent of all calcium from seafood, 20 per cent of vitamin A, 15 per cent of iron, and 13 per cent of vitamin B12.