2025 Global Fisheries Report

• 13 Jun 2025

On 11th June 2025, at the United Nations Ocean Conference 3 (UNOC3) in Nice, France, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) released the Review of the State of World Marine Fishery Resources – 2025, highlighting critical threats to deep-sea species and highly migratory sharks due to overfishing.

Key Points

• Alarming Decline: Only 29% of deep-sea species stocks are sustainably fished, with the rest under severe pressure due to slow reproduction, late maturity, and low natural mortality.
• Shark Crisis: 43.5% of 23 examined shark stocks are unsustainably fished, particularly in tropical regions like the western central Pacific and Indian Ocean.
• Global Outlook: Of the 2,570 global fishery stocks assessed, 64.5% are fished within sustainable levels, while 35.5% are overexploited.
• Success Stories: Tuna stocks show 87% sustainability due to effective regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) and robust compliance systems in high seas.
• Regional Gaps: Sustainability is high in the northeast and southwest Pacific, but low in the Mediterranean, Black Sea, and southeastern Pacific due to weaker management.
• Data Deficiency: Areas like the eastern Indian Ocean may appear sustainable, but gaps in data, especially for vulnerable species, require cautious interpretation.