Global fish and seafood production climbed to a record high in 2024, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported on Tuesday, June 16, 2026, even as it warned that Africa’s own fish supply is struggling to keep pace with the continent’s rapidly growing population.
The findings come from The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture report, launched on Tuesday by the FAO at the Our Ocean Conference in Mombasa, Kenya. According to the report, aquatic animal production reached 195 million tonnes in 2024, growing steadily at an average annual rate of 3.2 percent since 1950. About 89 percent of that production is destined for human consumption, while average per capita availability now exceeds 21 kilogrammes annually. The report also tracked the broader value of the sector: fish and seafood is now a $184 billion trade. Presenting the findings at a side event in Mombasa that same day, FAO Director of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Division, Manuel Barange, said the sector continues to expand rapidly but warned that sustainable and equitable growth remains a major global challenge.
Much of the global growth has come from aquaculture, or fish farming. Aquaculture overtook traditional capture fishing as a source of food production in 2021 and has continued to grow, surpassing 100 million tonnes for the first time in 2024, the most recent year for which data is available. But the report finds Africa has not shared equally in that expansion. Africa is lagging behind the rest of the world, with only 18 percent of its fish coming from farms, compared to around half elsewhere. That gap matters because of how fast demand is rising on the continent. Sub-Saharan Africa’s fish production will need to grow by 68 percent between now and 2050 to keep up with its rapidly growing population, the FAO said. Barange described this as
“an opportunity waiting to be exploited… but it’s whether the timing is sufficiently fast to catch up with that demand.”
The disparity is also reflected in projections for the next decade. A separate agricultural outlook compiled jointly by the OECD and FAO, published in mid July 2025, found that even with strong growth, Africa’s share of global farmed fish production will stay small at just 3 percent, supplying 3.6 million tonnes out of a projected 117.6 million tonnes globally by 2034. Africa will boost fish consumption by 24 percent from 2025 to 2034, outpacing the global average of 13 percent, even though per capita fish consumption remains low in Africa, at around 10 kilogrammes, well below the global average. Aquaculture supply in Africa is projected to grow by over 46 percent, led by Egypt and Nigeria, the continent’s two largest producers.
In a joint commentary published on June 15, 2026, two senior FAO officials described the stakes in stark terms. Abebe Haile-Gabriel, FAO Assistant Director General and Regional Representative for Africa, and Manuel Barange, FAO Assistant Director General and Director of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Division, wrote that across Africa, demand for aquatic foods is increasing as the population grows, yet supply is struggling to keep pace. They noted that Africa’s aquatic food production must grow by seven percent by 2050 just to maintain current per capita availability of aquatic foods, and that unless action is taken, supply growth will not keep up, reducing per capita availability and adding pressure to other food systems.
Barange pointed to climate change as a complicating factor for fisheries everywhere, calling it “a disruptor of everything that we do.” The report also flagged concerns about the sustainability of wild fish stocks more broadly, finding that only 62 percent of global fisheries were sustainably fished. Aquaculture, the report argues, offers a more predictable alternative to capture fishing. More than 700 different species of fish are raised for consumption on aquaculture farms around the world, and the FAO contends it is generally more manageable in the face of shifting ocean conditions than wild-catch fishing, which is subject to rapid changes in fish volumes and locations driven by warming waters.
Global fisheries and aquaculture production reached a record 188.2 million tonnes in 2024, and for the first time, aquaculture now accounts for the majority of fish destined for human consumption. Per capita fish consumption has reached 20.7 kilograms annually, the highest level ever recorded, and in many coastal and island nations, fish provides more than half of all animal protein intake. The report further estimated that some 63.8 million people work directly in fisheries and aquaculture worldwide, and that when the broader value chain is included, fisheries and aquaculture support the livelihoods of roughly 600 million people globally.
The Mombasa launch, which took place over the week of June 16-17, 2026, also marked a symbolic moment for the conference itself. The 11th edition of the Our Ocean Conference began in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa, its first time being held in Africa, bringing together politicians, NGOs, investors and innovators.
For now, the FAO’s message to African governments is one of urgency mixed with opportunity. With population growth outpacing fish production across much of the continent, officials say the years between now and 2050 will determine whether Africa can close the gap, or fall further behind a global industry now producing more fish than at any point in history.
