This publication updates the regular reviews of the state of the world's marine fishery resources, based mainly on official catch statistics throughout 2002 and relevant stock assessment and other complementary information available until 2004. It considers the global situation and major trends of world marine capture fish production, with detailed information for each FAO statistical area about catches and current state of exploitation, major trends and developments and stock assessment work undertaken in support of fisheries management. Other issues covered include: tunas and tuna-like species resources, world squid resources, deepwater fisheries, and long-term climate variability.

This document provides a review, commentary and tabulations of the main trends that have occurred in exploitation of fisheries resources since the 1970s, largely as they are reflected in the FAO database on fishery landings, supplemented with selected information from the fishery literature. Reviews were prepared separately for the 15 main areas into which FAO divides the world's oceans for statistical purposes. They are then compared from a global perspective to reveal relative trends by species and areas, which are highlighted. Several special topics are reviewed, including tuna and tuna-like species, whales and dolphins, and environmental issues in fisheries.

The FAO Fishery and Aquaculture Circular C942 Revision 3 (C942 Rev. 3) updates and expands the scope of previous revisions of the circular. C942 Rev. 3 is an important baseline document, intended to assist in the global understanding of inland fisheries and inform dialogue on their current and future role. The third revision reviews the status and trends of inland fisheries catch at global, continental and subcontinental levels. It places inland capture fisheries in the context of overall global fish production, and calls attention to the importance of inland capture fisheries with respect to food security and nutrition and the Sustainable Development Goals. It quantifies global inland fisheries resources in terms of food production, nutrition, employment, economic contribution with respect to those countries/regions or subnational areas where they are important. A characterization approach to distinguish large-scale and small-scale fishing operations and their relative contributions is provided. The review provides estimated economic values of inland fisheries, as well as a valuation of potential replacement cost of these (in terms of dollars, other resources such as land and water, feeds). There is also an analysis of the extent and economic value of recreational inland fisheries. The contribution to employment and the gender differences related to this are quantified. The linkages between inland fisheries and biodiversity are also explored. C942 Rev. 3 discusses ways to measure and assess inland fisheries, in particular, how to establish more accurately inland fishery catches in the many situations where there are challenges to collection of catch statistics.

The OECD Review of Fisheries 2020 aims to support policy makers and sector stakeholders in their efforts to deliver sustainable and resilient fisheries that can provide jobs, food, and livelihoods for future generations.