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Fish: Numbers and General Information

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About This Page

The notes on this page provide general information about fish, including the number of caught and farmed fish.

The metrics and other information on this page provide general information that may prove useful when discussing animal rights and veganism as it relates to fish.

Closely related: Fish: Injustices and Suffering | Fish: Sentience and Cognition

Points to Consider

Globally, over one trillion fish are caught each year, and over 50 billion are farmed.

  • Global fish counts[1]Estimates are from United Nations FAO data compiled by Fishcount UK. Fish Count UK: “Estimated Numbers of Individuals in Annual Global Capture Tonnage (FAO) of Fish Species (2007 – … Continue reading
    • Caught Fish: .79 – 2.3 trillion
    • Farmed Fish: 51-167 billion
  • Note: It is difficult to say how many fish are pulled from the oceans each year, as the catch is measured by weight rather than the number of individuals.

In the United States, over 6 billion fish are caught each year, and over 200 million are farmed.

  • United States fish counts[2]Estimates are from United Nations FAO data compiled by Fishcount UK. Fish Count UK: “Estimated Numbers of Individuals in Annual Global Capture Tonnage (FAO) of Fish Species (2007 – … Continue reading
    • Caught Fish: 6.29 – 13.51 billion
    • Farmed Fish: 244-583 million

Other Useful Information

Of the over 34,000 species of fish, only a few are used for food.

  • Over 34,000 fish species have been documented.[3]Fish Base version 02 2022
  • Only a relatively small number of species are used for food. Of these, most are bony fish, belonging to the class Osteichthyes.[4]Kapoor, B. G., and Bhavna Khanna, eds. Ichthyology Handbook. Berlin: Springer, 2004. 1.
  • Osteichthyes is one of three classes within the subphylum Vertebrata, part of the phylum Chordata within the animal kingdom.[5]Kapoor, B. G., and Bhavna Khanna, eds. Ichthyology Handbook. Berlin: Springer, 2004. 1.

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