FAO Assistant Director General, Manuel Barange and FAO Director-General, Qu Dongyu attend the second launch of the 2025 Review of the World Marine Fishery Resources.
Photo: ©FAO/Alessandra Benedetti
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has presented its Review of the state of world marine fishery resources - 2025 in Italy last week, billed as the most extensive and participatory global assessment of marine fish stocks to date. The event, held at FAO headquarters in Rome, followed an initial launch during the 3rd UN Ocean Conference in Nice in June.
Opening the event, FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu stressed the importance of sustainable management for the future of global fisheries.
"Our ocean is a source of food, nutrition, and livelihoods globally," he said. "Fisheries and aquaculture alone support over 600 million people, many in areas with limited alternative job opportunities. But the vital roles of the ocean can only be sustained if marine resources are managed responsibly, and their ecosystems maintained healthy," he said via a press release.
The report was the result of a two-and-a-half-year effort involving 650 experts from more than 90 countries, as well as regional consultations and collaboration with national and regional fisheries bodies. It assessed 2,570 fish stocks across all global regions.
The findings show that 64.5% of global fish stocks are fished within biologically sustainable levels. When measured by volume, 77.2% of global fisheries landings come from sustainable stocks, according to the FAO figures.
However, 35.5% of stocks remain overfished, with overfishing increasing by an average of 1% per year, and the figures show marked variability between regions and species.
Advances in data collection contributed to landmark report
“The fisheries landscape has evolved since the 1970s, shaped by new technologies, changing resources, shifting priorities, and growing complexity in how we use, manage and value fish stocks,” the Director-General said.
"Advances in data collection, including the integration of Indigenous and traditional knowledge, the use of artificial intelligence, and tailored approaches for data-limited fisheries, have expanded our ability to assess more stocks, more accurately, than ever before," he added.
According to FAO, the review is intended to guide policy-making and international cooperation on fisheries management, supporting the organisation’s Blue Transformation vision for sustainable aquatic food systems.
"As we look ahead, this global collaboration gives us confidence that the work will continue to improve, anchored in a strong foundation of trust, knowledge, and cooperation," Qu said, thanking all of the contributors and institutions involved.
