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Marine fisheries

How assessed marine fish stocks are doing worldwide, according to FAO’s global stock-status figures.

FAO SOFIA · marine stock status · capture fisheries

How assessed marine fish stocks are doing worldwide, according to FAO’s global stock-status figures.
FAO. A Fix Planet overview after the named source: not that publisher’s official graphic. Open the source map for the current layer.

What it is

FAO’s State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) is the flagship global assessment of fisheries and aquaculture. 35.5 percent of assessed marine fishery stocks were classified as overfished (FAO Review of the State of World Marine Fishery Resources 2025; status year 2021). The reports are published on FAO’s website and in its Open Knowledge repository. FAO’s FishStat database adds detailed catch statistics.

Why it matters

The overfished share is a simple global measure of how fish stocks are doing. Selective fishing gear, marine protected areas, and similar measures are ways to respond; FAO’s figures track the state of the stocks themselves.

How to read it

FAO’s stock-status shares cover assessed marine stocks only. SOFIA defines the categories and the year each figure refers to, so check the current report for the latest figures. Catch statistics from FishStat are useful context, but they measure something different from the overfished share.

Sources

Open source map →