Global comparison

China is the world’s top fishing nation, currently fishing almost 20% of the total world catch. The second greatest fishing nation is Peru, benefiting along with Chile from the most productive upwelling marine ecosystem in the world. Other top fishing nations are usually very populous, with a long coastline, such as USA, Indonesia and Japan.

However, few nations in the world are as dependent on fisheries as Iceland if one considers the population size. Although Iceland is among the smallest nations of the world, with a population of slightly more than 300 thousand people, it is nevertheless among the world’s largest fishing nations.

In 2005, Iceland caught 1.67 million tonnes, ranking 14th on a global scale. This is around average for Iceland, as it has been ranking from the 10th to the 21st high place since 1950.

This is only half the story as the total number of persons involved in the fishing is very low, or only about 5,000 for the past few years. The productivity of the Icelandic fishing fleet is therefore among the highest in the world. Few other countries catch as much fish with so few fishermen and vessels. On average, an Icelandic fisherman catches 210 tonnes of fish per year. That is more than three times as much as his Norwegian counterpart and eight times as much as the average fisherman from the EU. Productivity in both fishing and fish processing has thus constantly increased through innovation in equipment design and product development.

References and further information

For full citation and further information on the economy in general see this page

Hreiðar Þór Valtýsson, University of Akureyri