Wild fish catch from bottom trawling by country

Bottom trawling is a fishing method in which a large, heavy net is dragged along the seafloor to catch fish and other marine life.

Countries reporting

109

Highest

7.33 million tonnes

China

Lowest

0.66 tonnes

Bulgaria

Median

36,405 tonnes

Years covered

1950–2018

Data points

6,156

What the numbers show

Wild fish catch from bottom trawling is currently reported for 109 countries. The highest value is 7.33 million tonnes in China; the lowest is 0.66 tonnes in Bulgaria.

The median across all reporting countries is 36,405 tonnes, and the mean is 251,173 tonnes.

Over the past decade 55 countries rose and 51 fell. The largest increase was in Cape Verde (up 8,502.1%), and the largest decrease in Honduras (down 97.3%).

Wild fish catch from bottom trawling: full country ranking

#	Country	Latest	Year	10-year change	Trend
1	China	7.33 million tonnes	2018	up 27.7%	volatile
2	Indonesia	2.58 million tonnes	2018	up 47.4%	rising
3	Vietnam	2.47 million tonnes	2018	up 41.2%	volatile
4	India	2.18 million tonnes	2018	up 41.1%	volatile
5	Morocco	1.19 million tonnes	2018	up 36.1%	volatile
6	Norway	859,280 tonnes	2018	up 190.1%	rising
7	United States	791,936 tonnes	2018	up 37.9%	rising
8	Thailand	764,583 tonnes	2018	down 14.4%	rising
9	Spain	693,683 tonnes	2018	up 11.8%	falling
10	Malaysia	667,346 tonnes	2018	up 4.5%	volatile
11	South Korea	659,111 tonnes	2018	down 31.2%	volatile
12	Myanmar	625,464 tonnes	2018	down 1.9%	volatile
13	Hong Kong	511,312 tonnes	2018	up 113.2%	volatile
14	Argentina	430,062 tonnes	2018	down 47.4%	volatile
15	Japan	418,239 tonnes	2018	down 58.8%	volatile
16	Mexico	406,777 tonnes	2018	up 100.0%	volatile
17	Russia	369,531 tonnes	2018	up 41.4%	volatile
18	Iceland	270,807 tonnes	2018	up 4.4%	falling
19	New Zealand	211,548 tonnes	2018	up 60.4%	volatile
20	Poland	210,541 tonnes	2018	up 57.5%	volatile
21	Denmark	206,495 tonnes	2018	down 32.1%	volatile
22	Namibia	185,451 tonnes	2018	up 23.5%	volatile
23	Cambodia	183,130 tonnes	2018	up 156.2%	rising
24	Bangladesh	170,278 tonnes	2018	up 47.2%	rising
25	Angola	153,513 tonnes	2018	down 19.2%	falling
26	Canada	151,079 tonnes	2018	up 26.9%	volatile
27	Italy	150,061 tonnes	2018	down 44.8%	volatile
28	South Africa	140,611 tonnes	2018	down 9.4%	rising
29	United Kingdom	129,985 tonnes	2018	up 5.5%	volatile
30	Brazil	128,156 tonnes	2018	up 12.2%	rising
31	Turkey	119,049 tonnes	2018	down 52.4%	volatile
32	Netherlands	118,096 tonnes	2018	up 7.2%	falling
33	France	112,089 tonnes	2018	down 33.9%	rising
34	Portugal	104,344 tonnes	2018	up 32.3%	volatile
35	Peru	99,653 tonnes	2018	up 139.1%	volatile
36	Senegal	92,467 tonnes	2018	down 42.7%	volatile
37	Taiwan	86,116 tonnes	2018	up 11.2%	volatile
38	Guinea	85,438 tonnes	2018	up 73.1%	rising
39	Falkland Islands	81,978 tonnes	2018	up 9.3%	volatile
40	Greenland	77,468 tonnes	2018	up 46.1%	volatile
41	North Korea	72,377 tonnes	2018	up 37.2%	volatile
42	Mauritania	70,716 tonnes	2018	down 69.6%	volatile
43	Cape Verde	68,366 tonnes	2018	up 8,502.1%	volatile
44	Philippines	67,637 tonnes	2018	down 74.1%	volatile
45	Egypt	64,509 tonnes	2018	down 31.5%	volatile
46	Faroe Islands	64,470 tonnes	2018	down 40.4%	volatile
47	Sweden	56,944 tonnes	2018	up 7.9%	falling
48	Germany	52,181 tonnes	2018	up 7.8%	volatile
49	Algeria	49,414 tonnes	2018	down 27.5%	volatile
50	Greece	48,849 tonnes	2018	down 37.7%	volatile
51	Uruguay	47,385 tonnes	2018	down 41.6%	volatile
52	Nigeria	43,597 tonnes	2018	up 10.0%	volatile
53	Ghana	41,857 tonnes	2018	down 17.7%	volatile
54	Australia	36,429 tonnes	2018	down 28.0%	volatile
55	Sierra Leone	36,405 tonnes	2018	down 19.7%	volatile
57	Tunisia	25,741 tonnes	2018	up 34.2%	volatile
58	Curacao	25,157 tonnes	2018	up 4,859.7%	volatile
59	Cameroon	23,496 tonnes	2018	up 35.4%	rising
60	Lithuania	23,003 tonnes	2018	up 3,118.4%	volatile
61	Ukraine	20,190 tonnes	2018	down 84.1%	volatile
62	Gabon	16,528 tonnes	2018	down 46.5%	volatile
63	Bahrain	15,435 tonnes	1998	up 42.6%	rising
65	Georgia	14,081 tonnes	2018	up 186.7%	volatile
66	Guatemala	13,972 tonnes	2018	up 185.7%	rising
67	Saudi Arabia	13,820 tonnes	2018	down 9.3%	falling
68	Croatia	13,703 tonnes	2018	down 31.8%	rising
69	Cote d'Ivoire	12,036 tonnes	2018	up 103.4%	volatile
70	Libya	11,748 tonnes	2018	down 7.1%	volatile
71	Iran	10,765 tonnes	2018	unchanged	rising
72	Yemen	10,021 tonnes	2018	down 76.9%	volatile
73	El Salvador	9,774 tonnes	2018	up 77.2%	volatile
74	Cayman Islands	7,800 tonnes	1990	up 566.7%	volatile
75	Albania	6,557 tonnes	2018	up 86.6%	volatile
76	Oman	5,843 tonnes	2011	up 84.6%	volatile
77	Brunei	5,415 tonnes	2018	down 6.8%	volatile
78	Estonia	4,812 tonnes	2018	up 66.2%	volatile
79	Belgium	4,731 tonnes	2018	down 47.5%	falling
80	Chile	4,507 tonnes	2018	down 85.9%	volatile
81	Gambia	3,788 tonnes	2018	up 34.4%	volatile
82	Equatorial Guinea	3,362 tonnes	2018	up 13.9%	falling
83	Qatar	3,295 tonnes	1993	up 238.3%	volatile
84	Togo	2,450 tonnes	2018	down 5.6%	volatile
85	Saint Pierre and Miquelon	2,246 tonnes	2018	down 73.9%	volatile
86	Trinidad and Tobago	2,207 tonnes	2018	up 26.9%	volatile
87	Congo	2,125 tonnes	2018	down 66.2%	volatile
88	Cuba	1,922 tonnes	2012	up 213.4%	volatile
89	Mozambique	1,887 tonnes	1992	down 16.8%	falling
90	Venezuela	1,510 tonnes	2018	down 88.4%	volatile
91	Belize	1,289 tonnes	2018	up 2,254.7%	volatile
92	Israel	1,255 tonnes	2018	down 47.4%	volatile
93	Madagascar	1,066 tonnes	2018	up 2.1%	rising
94	Syria	1,051 tonnes	2018	down 55.5%	volatile
95	Iraq	976.73 tonnes	2018	down 9.7%	volatile
96	Liberia	960.4 tonnes	2005	down 50.3%	volatile
97	Dominica	868.21 tonnes	2018	down 95.3%	volatile
98	Somalia	786.97 tonnes	1991	down 61.2%	volatile
99	Panama	659.96 tonnes	2018	down 62.9%	volatile
100	Montenegro	380.07 tonnes	2018	down 19.6%	rising
101	Mauritius	377.6 tonnes	2018	down 48.1%	volatile
102	Latvia	293.25 tonnes	2017	down 66.5%	volatile
103	Romania	268.64 tonnes	2012	—	volatile
104	Honduras	262.15 tonnes	2006	down 97.3%	volatile
105	Sao Tome and Principe	240 tonnes	2018	down 2.4%	volatile
106	Vanuatu	117.15 tonnes	2018	up 2,044.1%	volatile
107	Palestine	83.66 tonnes	2018	down 77.5%	volatile
108	Slovenia	80.36 tonnes	2018	up 163.0%	rising
109	Democratic Republic of Congo	55.67 tonnes	1989	down 86.8%	volatile
110	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	7.52 tonnes	2018	—	volatile
111	Bulgaria	0.66 tonnes	2018	down 96.6%	volatile

About this data

Indicator: Wild fish catch from bottom trawling
Unit: tonnes
Source: Sea Around Us (2020) – processed by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 111 places, 6,156 data points, 1950–2018
Last refreshed: 07 August 2026

Bottom trawling is a fishing method in which a large, heavy net is dragged along the seafloor to catch fish and other marine life.