Factbox: Fish consumption hits a peak, but is it sustainable?

By Thin Lei Win

ROME (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A third of the world's oceans are overfished, with fish consumption at a record high, according to report published on Monday by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

Here are some facts and figures from the report:-

- Global fish production peaked at about 171 million tonnes in 2016, 47 percent of it from fish farming.

- Stocks fished within sustainable levels declined to 66.9 percent in 2015, from 90 percent in 1974.

- Levels of underfished stocks also decreased steadily from 1974 to 2015 and now stand at 7 percent of total assessed stocks.

- Growth in global fish consumption between 1961 and 2016 was 3.2 percent - twice population growth of 1.6 percent.

- In 2015, fish accounted for about 17 percent of the animal protein consumed globally.

- In Bangladesh, Cambodia, Gambia, Ghana, Indonesia, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka and some small island developing states, fish contributed 50 percent or more of total animal protein intake.

- Europe, Japan and the United States of America accounted for 20 percent of the world's total fish consumption - 149 million tonnes - in 2015.

- China is the world's largest fish producer and consumer, accounting for 38 percent consumption in 2015, fuelled by growing domestic income.

- Fisheries employ 59.6 million people globally, nearly 14 percent of them women.

- The total number of fishing vessels in the world in 2016, from small undecked and unmotorized boats to large sophisticated industrial vessels, was estimated to be about 4.6 million.

(Source:- FAO)

(Reporting By Thin Lei Win @thinink, Editing by Claire Cozens.; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, corruption and climate change. Visit www.trust.org)