Top 10 species groups in global aquaculture 2021

Abstract

This factsheet presents the top 10 species groups in 2021 world aquaculture production (Table 1) and examines the production distribution among countries (Figure 1). The ranking of all 67 species groups is illustrated in Figure 2 on the back cover. More information about the top 10 species groups at the regional and national levels can be found in a more comprehensive factsheet as supplementary materials (FAO, 2023). The comprehensive factsheet also elaborates on the species grouping methodology used in the ranking exercise and presents the top 10 producers of all 67 species groups.

Full text

Top 10 species groups in
global aquaculture 2021
FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Division

2
reduce to 10,5pt so until note in p.2
WAPI FACTSHEET
This factsheet presents the top 10 species groups in 2021 world aquaculture production (Table 1) and examines the production distribution
among countries (Figure 1). The ranking of all 67 species groups is illustrated in Figure 2 on the back cover. More information about the top 10
species groups at the regional and national levels can be found in a more comprehensive factsheet as supplementary materials (FAO, 2023). The
comprehensive factsheet also elaborates on the species grouping methodology used in the ranking exercise and presents the top 10 producers
of all 67 species groups.
Top 10 species groups in world aquaculture 2021
In 2021, a total of 513 ASFIS species items1 were cultivated in 201 countries (including non-sovereign territories) with 126 million tonnes of world
production, an increase of 3.3 million tonnes (2.7 percent) from the 2020 level (Table 1). Thanks to a major disaggregation of Indonesia’s production
data from 40 species (items)2 in 2020 to 116 species in 2021, the total number of species has jumped from 267 to 330 in Asia, and from 449 to
513 in world aquaculture. However, the effective number of species (ENS, a measure of species diversity)3 has only increased slightly from 47.3 to
47.6 in world aquaculture, from 42.1 to 42.5 in Asia, and from 5.6 to 6.7 in Indonesia (FAO, 2023).
Red seaweeds #3 was the only top-10 group with a decline in production between 2020 and 2021 (Table 1). The decline was primarily due to over
1 million tonnes (> 10 percent) of production drop in tropical Eucheuma seaweed farming, with declines in all four largest Eucheuma seaweed
producers (Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and United Republic of Tanzania, Zanzibar). The farming of coldwater red seaweed Porphyra/
Pyropia has also dropped close to 10 percent because of declines in China and Japan. In contrast, the farming of Brown seaweeds #2 has increased by
0.7million tonnes thanks to an above-average growth (4.3 percent compared to 2.7 percent world average), which was primarily due to the expansion
of Japanese kelp (Saccharina japonica) farming in China. As a result, the two seaweed groups switched their ranks in the top-10 list (Table 1).
Tilapias and other cichlids #6 also had an above-average growth (4.5 percent) thanks to general production expansion in major tilapia farming
countries, most notably Indonesia (over 100 000 tonnes; > 10 percent). In contrast, the growth in another two freshwater fish groups, Carp, barbels
and other cyprinids #1 and Catfishes #7, was below the world average (Table 1). With production increased in some major catfish farming countries
(Indonesia, China, India, and Nigeria) while declined in others (Viet Nam, Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Thailand), the overall growth of global
catfish farming was less than 1 percent, which made Catfishes yield its #6 place to Tilapias and other cichlids (Table 1).
The contrasting growth performance has also happened to the two molluscs groups: above-average growth in Oysters #5 versus below-average
growth in Clams, cockles, arkshells #8 (Table 1). This reflects mostly the growth performance in China, the largest producer that accounted for
95percent of global clam farming and 87 percent of global oyster farming (FAO, 2023). Marine shrimps and prawns #4 and Salmons, trouts, smelts
#9, two most traded and high-value aquaculture commodities, exhibited above-average growth. Production has increased in all five largest marine
shrimp farming countries (China, India, Viet Nam, Indonesia, and Ecuador). The aquaculture production of Salmonoids has increased in three of
the five largest producers (Norway, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Türkiye) yet declined in the other two (Chile and
the Islamic Republic of Iran).
Abundance and diversity of aquaculture countries
The 126 million tonnes of world aquaculture production in 2021 was contributed by 201 countries. Yet 90 percent of the production came from
only 10 countries; China alone accounted for nearly 60 percent (FAO, 2023, p.25). The wide yet highly uneven distribution of global aquaculture
production can be quantified by 6.5 effective number of countries (ENC). In Table 1, the total number of countries (TNC) gauges the abundance of
1. ASFIS = Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Information System. ASFIS species items could refer to either individual species, hybrids, or groups of related species, such
as genera (when identication to species is impossible). www.fao.org/shery/collection/ass/en
2. ASFIS species items are called species hereafter for narrative convenience.
3. A previous factsheet on aquaculture 2020 (FAO, 2022) has a feature section on ENS. More detailed discussion can be found in Cai et al. (2022).
TABLE 1: Top 10 species groups in terms of production quantity, 2021
Top 10 species groups (ranked by production quantity) World aquaculture production, 2021 2021 production compared to 2020
Species group ISSCAAP division
Number of ASFIS
species items in
the group farmed in
world aquaculture
Number of countriesf
worldwide farming
the species group
World
production
(tonnes)
Share of world
production of
all species
(%)
Ranking
in 2020
(%)i
Change in
quantity
(tonnes)
Change in
percentage
(%)
Total ENSeTNCgENCh
1. Carps, barbels and other cyprinidsaFreshwater shes 47 9.7 97 3.5 31 107 450 24.7 #1 536 708 1.8
2. Brown seaweedsaAlgae 10 2.2 14 1.6 17 567 599 13.9 #3 725 005 4.3
3. Red seaweedsaAlgae 13 4.1 33 3.3 17 466 794 13.9 #2 -657 454 -3.6
4. Marine shrimps and prawnbCrustaceans 16 1.7 67 8.4 7 343 753 5.8 #4 488 328 7.1
5. OystersaMolluscs 13 1.6 47 1.9 6 674 925 5.3 #5 414 768 6.6
6. Tilapias and other cichlidsaFreshwater shes 18 2.1 126 11.0 6 308 073 5.0 #7 269 508 4.5
7. CatshescFreshwater shes 37 5.8 97 7.2 6 135 491 4.9 #6 53 065 0.9
8. Clams, cockles, arkshellsaMolluscs 24 2.3 23 1.4 5 772 738 4.6 #8 28 662 0.5
9. Salmons, trouts, smeltsaDiadromous shes 25 2.6 83 8.9 4 249 371 3.4 #9 212 916 5.3
10. Freshwater shes neidFreshwater shes 1 1.0 71 3.7 3 278 203 2.6 #10 270 031 9.0
Other species 309 n.a. n.a n.a. 20 130 899 16.0 n.a. 981 923 5.1
All species 513 47.6 201 6.5 126 035 297 100.0 n.a. 3 323 460 2.7
Data source: FAO Fishery and Aquaculture Statistics. Global aquaculture production 1950–2021 (FishStatJ v.2023.1.1). April 2023. www.fao.org/shery/en/statistics/
software/shstatj
Notes: aISSCAAP group; ISSCAAP = Inter national Standard Statistical Classication of Aquatic Animals and Plants. bSame as ISSCAAP group “Shrimps, prawns”.
cSubgroup of the ISSCAAP group “Miscellaneous freshwater shes”, including freshwater shes belonging to the order of Siluriformes. dASFIS species item that
represents a group of miscellaenous freshwater shes; ASFIS = Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Information System and “nei” = not elsewhere included. eENS =
Eective Number of Species (see footnote 3). fIncluding non-sovereign territories. gTNC = Total number of countries. hENC = Eective number of countries, a measure
of production distribution among countries, which will be discussed in the next section. iThe 2020 ranking here is slightly dierent from the one presented in a previous
factsheet (FAO, 2022) because the FAO aquaculture production statistics have been updated.
4. The ENC here is calculated by by
ENS = e−∑n
i=1 siln (si)
, where n denotes the
total number of aquaculture countries, and si denotes each country’s
share in world production. Defined as such, the ENC is essentially
equivalent to the Shannon (entropy) index, which is a widely used
diversity measure. Ranging between 1 and n, the ENC would be equal
to n when the production is evenly distributed among all aquaculture
countries, whereas it would be closer towards 1 (the lower bound)

3
JUNE 2023
reduce to 10,5pt so until note in p.2
countries that cultivate a species group, while the ENC, as a measure of the diversity of aquaculture countries, captures both the abundance and
the evenness of production distribution among these countries.4
Species groups with relatively high TNC and ENC
Tilapias and other cichlids #6 is the most popular aquaculture species group. The abundance of tilapia farming countries (126 TNC) was much
higher than other species groups; so was their diversity (11 ENC) (Figure 1). Indeed, among all 67 species groups (Figure 2), only six groups had
TNC > 20 and ENC > 5, including Marine shrimps and prawns #4, Tilapias and other cichlids #6, Catfishes #7, Salmons, trouts, smelts #9, Mussels
#13, and Marine perch-like fishes #14 (Figure 1). These six groups with more abundant and diverse production sources are top aquaculture
commodities in international trade, and they accounted for 22 percent of total aquaculture production in 2021.
Species groups with relatively high TNC yet low ENC
Although Carps, barbels and other cyprinids #1 and Catfishes #7 had the same TNC (97), the former’s ENC (3.5) was only half of the latter (Figure1).
This reflects a highly concentrated carp aquaculture, with nearly 85 percent of the ~30 million tonnes of global production occurring in two most
populous countries (65 percent in China and 19 percent in India) (FAO, 2023, p.26). Besides this largest species group, another eight species groups
also had relatively high TNC (>20) yet low ENC (<5), including Red seaweeds #3, Oysters #5, Clams, cockles, arkshells #8, Freshwater fishes
nei#10, Freshwater perch-like fishes #17, Marine fishes not identified #18, Freshwater shrimps and prawns #21, and Sturgeons, paddlefishes #36.
These nine species groups accounted for 53 percent of total aquaculture production.
Species groups with relatively low TNC yet high ENC
Four species groups had relatively low TNC yet high ENC: Characins #26, Diadromous perch-like fishes #37, Tunas, bonitos, billfishes #40, and
Northern pike #53 (Figure 1), and they accounted for less than half a percent of total production. Tunas, bonitos, billfishes #40, cultivated in
only eight countries notwithstanding, had the 6th highest ENC (6.3), indicating a highly diverse distribution of global production among the eight
producers (FAO, 2023, p.64).
Species groups with relatively low TNC and ENC
A majority (48) of the 67 species groups were cultivated by less than 20 countries with ENC less than 5 (Figure 1), and these 48 groups accounted
for 24 percent of total aquaculture production. Relatively large species groups in this category include Brown seaweeds #2, Crayfishes #11,
Scallops, pectens #12, Milkfish #15, Marine molluscs nei #16, Freshwater crabs #19, and Snakeheads #20 (Figure 1). Sixteen countries cultivated
Crayfishes #11 in 2021, yet the species group’s ENC was close to 1, indicating that a single country (China) contributed nearly all of its relatively
large production (FAO, 2023, p.36).
References
Cai, J., Yan, X. and Leung, P.S. 2022. Benchmarking species diversification in global aquaculture. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Paper
No. 605. Rome, FAO. https://doi.org/10.4060/cb8335en
Cai, J. and Leung, P.S. 2023. Popularity and parity: towards more inclusive and balanced aquaculture. Preprint available at https://doi.org/10.21203/
rs.3.rs-2806743/v1
FAO. 2022. Top 10 species groups in global aquaculture 2020. World Aquaculture Performance Indicators (WAPI) factsheets. www.fao.org/3/
cc0723en/cc0723en.pdf
FAO. 2023. Top 10 species groups in global, regional and national aquaculture 2021. Supplementary materials to the factsheet on Top 10 species
groups in global aquaculture 2021. World Aquaculture Performance Indicators (WAPI) factsheets. http://www.fao.org/3/cc6319en/cc6319en.pdf
4. The ENC here is calculated by
ENS = e−∑n
i=1 s
i
ln(s
i
)
, where n denotes the total number of aquaculture countries, and si denotes each country’s share in world production.
Dened as such, the ENC is essentially equivalent to the Shannon (entropy) index, which is a widely used diversity measure. Ranging between 1 and n, the ENC
would be equal to n when the production is evenly distributed among all aquaculture countries, whereas it would be closer towards 1 (the lower bound) when
production distribution becomes more concentrated. For example, when aquaculture production is evenly distributed among 10 countries, the eective number of
countries would be 10, which is equal to the total number of countries. When aquaculture production is dominated by one country with a trivial contribution from
the other nine countries, the eective number of countries would be close to 1, which reects that the production is eectively contributed by a single country. More
technical details about the ENC and some derivative indicators can be found in Cai and Leung (2023).
FIGURE 1: Abundance and diversity of aquaculture countries, 2021
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
23
25
26
31 34
36
37
40
53
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
130
Effective number of countries (ENC)
Total number of countries (TNC)
Algae Crustaceans Molluscs Miscellaneous aquatic animals and animal products Marine fishes Diadromous fishes Freshwater fishes
Bubble size measures production
Bubble label denotes ranking by production
Details about all species groups presented in Figure 2
4. The ENC here is calculated by by
ENS = e−∑n
i=1 siln (si)
, where n denotes the
total number of aquaculture countries, and si denotes each country’s
share in world production. Defined as such, the ENC is essentially
equivalent to the Shannon (entropy) index, which is a widely used
diversity measure. Ranging between 1 and n, the ENC would be equal
to n when the production is evenly distributed among all aquaculture
countries, whereas it would be closer towards 1 (the lower bound)

Some rights reserved. This work is available
under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO licence
FIGURE 2: World aquaculture production (2021): 126 035 297 tonnes
CONTACTS
FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Division
E-mail: WAPI@fao.org
www.fao.org/shery/en/statistics/software/wapi
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Rome, Italy
Note: In the rst bracket, the two numbers represent, respectively, the “total number of species” and
the “effective number of species” (ENS) in the species group. In the second bracket, the two numbers
represent the “total number of countries” (TNC) and the “effective number of countries” (ENC) that
cultivated the species group. The colour scheme of the species groups follow the pattern in Figure 1.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The factsheet (including the supplementary materials) was prepared by
Junning Cai, Giulia Galli, and Xiaowei Zhou with valuable comments and
suggestions from PingSun Leung.
Graphic design: José Luis Castilla Civit.
31 107 450
17 567 599
17 466 794
7 343 753
6 674 925
6 308 073
6 135 491
5 772 738
4 249 371
3 278 203
2 709 205
2 088 713
2 014 966
1 676 337
1 278 269
1 110 896
1 100 447
893 866
808 293
688 538
589 529
546 130
427 651
425 416
421 502
389 683
375 742
311 529
303 237
245 970
245 269
208 717
190 129
188 056
174 670
143 017
134 555
85 190
77 779
67 101
35 043
33 596
32 290
26 241
23 232
21 800
17 699
6 160
3 053
2 476
2 262
1 890
1 582
1 484
350
345
272
231
203
100
60
50
36
27
7
5
3
1. Carps, barbels and other cyprinids (ISSCAAP group) [47; 9.68] [97; 3.52]
2. Brown seaweeds (ISSCAAP group) [10; 2.24] [14; 1.61]
3. Red seaweeds (ISSCAAP group) [13; 4.13] [33; 3.25]
4. Marine shrimps and prawns (ISSCAAP group) [16; 1.74] [67; 8.41]
5. Oysters (ISSCAAP group) [13; 1.61] [47; 1.89]
6. Tilapias and other cichlids (ISSCAAP group) [18; 2.12] [126; 10.96]
7. Catfishes (Siluriformes) [37; 5.85] [97; 7.2]
8. Clams, cockles, arkshells (ISSCAAP group) [24; 2.28] [23; 1.36]
9. Salmons, trouts, smelts (ISSCAAP group) [25; 2.6] [83; 8.89]
10. Freshwater fishes nei (Osteichthyes) [1; 1] [71; 3.68]
11. Crayfishes (Astacoidea and Parastacoidea) [7; 1.001] [16; 1.14]
12. Scallops, pectens (ISSCAAP group) [7; 1.59] [11; 1.61]
13. Mussels (ISSCAAP group) [11; 4.35] [42; 7.64]
14. Marine perch-like fishes (Percoidea, marine) [65; 9.07] [49; 6.07]
15. Milkfish (Chanidae) [1; 1] [17; 2.27]
16. Marine molluscs nei (Mollusca) [1; 1] [7; 1.91]
17. Freshwater perch-like fishes (Percoidea, freshwater) [10; 2.13] [32; 1.15]
18. Marine fishes not identified (ISSCAAP group) [2; 1] [26; 3.15]
19. Freshwater crabs (Brachyura) [1; 1] [3; 1]
20. Snakeheads (Channidae) [7; 2.06] [12; 2.04]
21. Freshwater shrimps and prawns (Natantia, freshwater) [7; 2.52] [31; 2.63]
22. Abalones, winkles, conchs (ISSCAAP group) [10; 2.09] [15; 1.28]
23. Crabs, sea-spiders (marine) (ISSCAAP group) [8; 4.25] [20; 3.06]
24. Jacks and pompanos (Carangidae) [25; 3.08] [19; 2.44]
25. Turtles (ISSCAAP group) [3; 1.47] [10; 1.09]
26. Characins (Characiformes) [26; 5.59] [18; 5.41]
27. Mullets (Mugilidae) [5; 1.19] [12; 1.41]
28. Asian swamp eel (Monopterus albus) [1; 1] [5; 1.003]
29. River eels (ISSCAAP group) [3; 1.12] [18; 1.96]
30. Sea-cucumbers, sea-urchins and other echinoderms (ISSCAAP group) [5; 1.31] [11; 1.2]
31. Gouramies (Anabantoidei) [6; 2.67] [6; 2.69]
32. Freshwater molluscs (ISSCAAP group) [6; 3.48] [6; 1.32]
33. Frogs and other amphibians (ISSCAAP group) [4; 1.14] [15; 1.44]
34. Flounders, halibuts, soles (ISSCAAP group) [10; 4.32] [12; 2.61]
35. Aquatic invertebrates nei (Invertebrata) [1; 1] [5; 1.05]
36. Sturgeons, paddlefishes (ISSCAAP group) [8; 1.05] [38; 2.13]
37. Diadromous perch-like fishes (Percoidea, diadromous) [2; 1.08] [19; 6.06]
38. Spirulinas (Spirulinaceae) [3; 1.09] [12; 1.14]
39. Jellyfishes nei (Rhopilema spp) [1; 1] [1; 1]
40. Tunas, bonitos, billfishes (ISSCAAP group) [3; 2.62] [8; 6.34]
41. Cobia (Rachycentron canadum) [1; 1] [7; 2.04]
42. Puffers and filefishes (Tetraodontiformes) [4; 2.18] [4; 1.49]
43. Sea-squirts and other tunicates (ISSCAAP group) [2; 1.58] [2; 1.83]
44. Green seaweeds (excluding microalgae) [8; 3.96] [6; 1.72]
45. Seaweeds nei (Algae) [1; 1] [6; 1.09]
46. Bony tongues (Osteoglossiformes) [7; 4.45] [15; 2.28]
47. Scorpionfishes and flatheads (Scorpaeniformes) [2; 1.07] [1; 1]
48. Lobsters, spiny-rock lobsters (ISSCAAP group) [6; 2.05] [8; 2.1]
49. Tarpons, tenpounders, ladyfish (Elopiformes) [2; 1.07] [2; 1.07]
50. Surgeonfishes and relatives (Acanthuroidei) [5; 1.35] [8; 1.4]
51. Aquatic plants nei (Plantae aquaticae) [1; 1] [1; 1]
52. Pearls, mother-of-pearl, shells (ISSCAAP group) [4; 2.01] [4; 1.93]
53. Northern pike (Esox lucius) [1; 1] [16; 5.51]
54. Freshwater gobies and sleepers (Gobioidei, freshwater) [2; 1.59] [5; 1.97]
55. Cods, hakes, haddocks (ISSCAAP group) [1; 1] [1; 1]
56. Shads (ISSCAAP group) [2; 1.98] [2; 1.98]
57. Green microalgae [1; 1] [2; 1.78]
58. Mackerels (Scomber) [1; 1] [1; 1]
59. Freshwater crustaceans nei (Crustacea) [1; 1] [2; 1.19]
60. Marine worms (Polychaeta) [1; 1] [1; 1]
61. Marine crustaceans nei (Crustacea) [1; 1] [3; 2.06]
62. Brine shrimps (Artemia) [1; 1] [1; 1]
63. African lungfishes (Protopterus spp) [1; 1] [1; 1]
64. Herrings, sardines, anchovies (ISSCAAP group) [1; 1] [1; 1]
65. Blackspot sergeant (Abudefduf sordidus) [1; 1] [1; 1]
66. Squids, cuttlefishes, octopuses (ISSCAAP group) [1; 1] [1; 1]
67. Argentinian silverside (Odontesthes bonariensis) [1; 1] [1; 1]
24.7%
13.9%
13.9%
5.8%
5.3%
5.0%
4.9%
4.6%
3.4%
2.6%
© FAO, 2023
CC6297EN/1/06.23