The following studies estimate the numbers of fish killed globally each year in fishing and fish farming, using FAO fisheries capture and aquaculture production tonnages together with estimated mean weights for fish species.

 
Numbers of fish caught from the wild each year

In this study it is estimated that between 0.97 and 2.7 trillion fish (ie 970,000,000,000 to 2,700,000,000,000) were caught from the wild globally each year for 1999-2007.

• introduction to the study
• study overview
• full writeup of study (109 KB)
• results on screen
• results in pdf document (216 KB)
• results in spreadsheet (XLS, 1,922 KB)

 
Numbers of farmed fish slaughtered each year

In this study it is estimated that between 37 and 120 billion (ie 37,000,000,000 – 120,000,000,000)farmed fish slaughtered for food globally in 2010.

• introduction to the study
• study overview
• full writeup of study (600 KB)
• results on screen
• results in pdf document (216 KB)
• results in spreadsheet: global estimated numbers 2010 (XLS, 520 KB)
• results in spreadsheet: estimated numbers by country and year with graphs (zipped XLS, 9.9 MB zipped; 38.4 MB unzipped)

 
Numbers of wild fish caught for reduction to fish oil and fishmeal

The above study to estimate numbers of farmed fish also estimates that, on average each year for 2005-2009, between 0.45 and 1.0 trillion (ie 450,000,000,000 – 1,000,000,000,000) wild fish were caught for reduction to fish oil and fishmeal, mainly used to feed farmed fish.

• results on screen