Fisheries Statistics Summary 2022

From 2018 to 2022, the worldwide trend of fishery production from both capture fisheries and aquaculture (Table 1) had been steadily increasing at an average rate of about 2.5 million MT annually. Countries in Asia (excluding those in Southeast Asia) are among the major fish producers, contributing about 54 % to the total fishery production during the past five years. In the Southeast Asian region, fishery production increased from 46.7 million MT in 2018 to 47.3 million MT in 2022 with an annual average increase rate of 0.15 million MT, while the region’s total contribution to the world’s total fishery production in 2022 was approximately 21.0 %. Such feat had been achieved through the intensified efforts of the governments of the Southeast Asian countries to promote responsible fishing practices and sustainable management of the fishery resources, and also because the countries were adhering to the new paradigm of change in fisheries management which is geared towards sustainability.

Table 1. Fishery production by continent from 2018 to 2022 (million MT)*

	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
World	213.2	213.0	213.7	219.0	223.1
Africa	12.5	12.5	12.2	12.9	13.1
America	24.5	22.5	22.6	24.3	23.6
Asia*	109.4	112.0	113.5	116.7	119.8
Southeast Asia**	46.7	46.8	46.2	45.8	47.3
Europe	18.3	17.4	17.4	17.5	17.5
Oceania	1.8	1.8	1.8	1.8	1.8

* Source (excluding Southeast Asia): FAO FishStat Plus-Universal Software for Fishery Statistical Time Series
** Source: Fishery Statistical Bulletin of Southeast Asia (SEAFDEC, 2025)

As shown in Table 2, the fishery production of Southeast Asia from 2018 to 2022 exhibited fluctuating trend in term of both quantity and value. Nevertheless, the overall trend was still increasing. The annual average increase in volume from 2018 to 2022 was about 0.3 %, while the annual average rate of increase of the value was about 11.4 % since Viet Nam reported the value only in 2021 and 2022, and the value of production from Lao PDR was reported only for aquaculture production. Nevertheless, the figures still imply that in addition to the increasing volume, most of the regional fishery commodities harvested were of high value. By country, Indonesia reported the highest fishery production in 2022 in terms of volume accounting for about 47.1 % of the total fishery production of Southeast Asia, followed by Viet Nam contributing about 19.1 %, and Myanmar at 13.2 %. The Philippines ranked fourth accounting for 9.2 %, Thailand at 5.0 %, Malaysia at 4.0 %, and Cambodia at 1.8 %. The contributions of Lao PDR, Brunei Darussalam, and Singapore to the fishery production of Southeast Asia in 2022 were minimal in terms of volume.

In terms of value, Indonesia accounted for about 34.1 % of the total value of the region’s fishery production with Viet Nam emerged second contributing about 32.2 %, and Myanmar came in third contributing about 12.7 %. Meanwhile, the Philippines which ranked fourth in terms of volume and value contributed about 7.5 %, Thailand which ranked fifth in terms of production volume as well as value accounted for 6.3 %, followed by Malaysia which contributed about 4.4 %. The trend of the fishery production of the Southeast Asian countries in 2018–2022 is shown in Figure 1.

Table 2. Total fishery production of Southeast Asia by quantity and value (2018-2022)

Figure 1. Fishery production of the Southeast Asian countries in 2018–2022 by quantity (MT) (left) and value (US$ 1,000) (right)

The fishery production of Southeast Asia is categorized into three subsectors, namely: marine capture fisheries, inland capture fisheries, and aquaculture. By subsector, the total fishery production of the region in 2022 as shown in Table 3 and Figure 2 indicated that the largest portion of the production volume was derived from aquaculture accounting for approximately 54 % followed by marine capture fisheries at about 39 %, and inland capture fisheries at 7 %. In terms of production value, aquaculture was at 48 %, marine capture fisheries accounted for 46 %, and inland capture fisheries at 7 %. While the value per MT of marine capture fishery production was about US$ 1,946/MT, those from inland capture fisheries and aquaculture were about US$ 1,788/MT and US$ 1,502/MT, respectively. This implies that the global market has started to recognize the value of aquatic products from inland capture fisheries, and has been patronizing such products lately.

Table 3. Production of fishery subsectors of Southeast Asia in 2022 by quantity (MT) and value (US$ 1,000)

* Data not available from Lao PDR
** Computation of price excludes corresponding quantity production from Lao PDR

Figure 2. Proportion (%) of production of fishery subsectors of Southeast Asia in 2022 by quantity (left) and value (right))

The region’s production from marine capture fisheries in 2021–2022 had been generally fluctuated as shown in Table 4. In terms of volume, there was a slight decrease from 18.3 MT in 2018 to 18.2 MT in 2019 due to the decreased production of Indonesia and Philippines in 2019, followed by a slight increase in 2020 at about 0.3 %, decrease in 2021 at about 1.5 %, and increase in 2022 at about 3.8 %. While the production value during 2018–2022 indicated that the total reported value of the region’s marine capture fisheries production increased corresponding to the increasing trend of the quantity of production from 2021 to 2022, it should be noted that the reported value has increased due to the figures reported by Viet Nam starting from 2021.

Table 4. Marine capture fishery production of Southeast Asia in 2018–2022 by quantity (MT) and value (US$ 1,000)

In terms of quantity, the total production from marine capture fisheries of the Southeast Asian countries during 2018–2022 indicated that Indonesia had the highest contribution to the region’s total production. Specifically, in 2022, the production of Indonesia was 7.0 million MT accounting for approximately 37.7 % of the region’s total, followed by Viet Nam with 3.7 million MT (19.7 %), Myanmar with 3.4 million MT (18.2 %), and Philippines with 1.8 million MT (9.7 %). Malaysia and Thailand also produced a considerable quantity of aquatic commodities from marine capture fisheries with 1.3 million MT (7.0 %) and 1.3 million MT (6.9 %), respectively. The region’s production volume from marine capture fisheries in 2022 can be gleaned from Figure 3.

Figure 3. Marine capture fishery production of the Southeast Asian countries in 2022 by quantity (MT)

In terms of value, Indonesia which led the Southeast Asian countries, accounted for about 34.0 % of the region’s marine capture fishery production value in 2022, with Viet Nam emerging second contributing about 28.1 %. Meanwhile, Myanmar which came in third in terms of value contributed about 15.3 %, Philippines came in fourth at 9.4 %, Malaysia at 7.1 %, and lastly, Thailand contributed about 5.2 %. The contributions of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, and Singapore to the marine capture fishery production of Southeast Asia in 2022 were minimal in terms of value.

Aggregating the 2022 production volume from marine capture fisheries by major commodity groups (Table 5), marine fishes had the highest volume accounting for about 88.0 % followed by mollusks at 6.0 %, while crustaceans, seaweeds, and invertebrates contributed 4.1 %, 0.3 %, and 0.03 %, respectively. It should be noted that 1.5 % was contributed by other commodity groups which could not be appropriately classified as some countries were not able to provide their respective production volumes by species. From 2021 to 2022, the production volume of invertebrates, seaweeds, and mollusks decreased by about 90.9 %, 13.8 %, and 4.0 %, respectively. On the other hand, the production volume of others, marine fishes, and crustaceans increased by about 21.3 %, 4.6 %, and 2.6 %, respectively.

Table 5. Production of the major commodity groups from marine capture fisheries of Southeast Asia in 2018–2022 by quantity (MT)

Comparing the volume of the total fishery production in 2022 with that of 2021, an increase in the production of the marine capture fishery is obvious, which could have been influenced by several factors including increased production of various major commodities of Viet Nam such as yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) and marine crabs nei (Brachyura) from Fishing Area 71¹; increased production of major marine capture fishery of the Philippines , especially Stolephorus anchovies nei (Stolephorus spp.), Sardinellas nei (Sardinella spp.), skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis), and frigate tuna (Auxis thazard) from Fishing Area 71; and increased production of Indonesia of frigate tuna (A. thazard), and bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus) from Fishing Area 57² and 71.

¹ Fishing area 57 covers the marine fishing areas of Myanmar, Thailand (Indian Ocean), Malaysia (West Coast of Peninsula Malaysia), and Indonesia (Malacca Striat, West Sumatra and South Java, Bali-Nusa Tenggara)
² Fishing area 71 covers the marine fishing areas of Thailand (Gulf of Thailand), Cambodia, Viet Nam (Southwest and Southest), Malaysia (East Coast of Peninsula Malaysia, Sabah, Sarawak), Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, Philippines (Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao), and Indonesia (East Sumatra, North Java, Bali-Nusa Tenggara, Southwest Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, North Sulawesi, Maluku-Papua)

Moreover, the region’s production of major species such as frigate tuna (Auxis thazard) and skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) increased in 2022 when compared with 2021 which could have been influenced by the increased production of Indonesia and Philippines. The production of Indian mackerel (Rastrelliger kanagurta) and Indian mackerels nei (Rastrelliger spp.) also increased in 2022 compared with in 2021 which could be due to the increased production of Indonesia. Meanwhile, the production of blue swimming crab (Portunus pelagicus) in 2022 increased compared with 2021, which could have been brought about by increased production of Thailand.

The commercially important marine species that provided a sizeable contribution to the total fishery production of Southeast Asia from marine capture fisheries by quantity and value in 2022 are shown in Table 6. The data indicate that miscellaneous marine fishes (unidentified) contributed the highest volume at about 58.1 % and value at about 56.6 %. Production from the tunas and tuna-like species group contributed about 14.8 % to the total production quantity and ranked second in terms of value accounting for about 12.0 % of the total production value, followed by the scads group that contributed about 6.9 % to the total production quantity and value of about 6.3 % of the total production value, and mollusks contributed about 6.0 % to the total production quantity and value at about 12.6 % of the total production value.

The data in Table 6 also suggest that the production value/qauntity of the mollusks group at US$ 4,415/MT was
the highest among the commodities followed by the crustaceans group at US$ 4,130/MT, jacks, crevalles nei (Caranx spp.) at US$ 3,514/MT, other scads at US$ 3,486/MT, seerfishes nei (Scomberomorus spp.) at US$ 2,953/MT, Indo-Pacific king mackerel (Scomberomorus guttatus) at US$ 2,796/MT, bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus) at US$ 2,651/MT, yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) at US$ 2,627/MT, narrow-barred Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus commerson) at US$ 2,618/MT, yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) at US$ 2,333/MT, and Southern bluefin tuna (Thunnus maccoyii) at US$ 2,013/MT.

Table 6. Production of commercially-important species from marine capture fishery of Southeast Asia in 2022 by quantity (MT) and value (US$)

* Data not available from Cambodia and Malaysia
** Computation of price excludes corresponding quantity production from Cambodia and Malaysia

In 2018–2022, the production of Southeast Asia from inland capture fisheries generally increased and its growth during the same period had been remarkable. The region’s total production from inland capture fisheries in 2022 was 3,073,523 MT accounting for approximately 14.2 % of the region’s total production from capture fisheries or 6.5 % of the region’s total fishery production. It should be recognized however that the compilation and reporting of production data from inland capture fisheries had been particularly limited and still need to be improved. Thus, the reported data so far could be insufficient, especially in terms of species composition. It should be also considered that in the real situation, the catch of rural communities who are the main users of the inland resources, is consumed locally and usually not reported in local or national statistics. Accordingly, the data on the total catch from inland capture fisheries in this publication could be considered as indicative only.

While the Southeast Asian countries reported their respective data on production from inland capture fisheries during 2018–2022, Myanmar maintained a stable inland fishery production from 2018 to 2022 that accounted for about 32.7 % of the country’s total production from capture fisheries, 26.4 % of the country’s total fishery production, and 3.5 % of the region’s total fishery production (Table 7). The second highest producer, Indonesia, reported a production volume of 462,970 MT in 2022 which represented 6.2 % of the country’s production from capture fisheries, 2.1 % of the country’s total fishery production, and 1.0 % of the region’s total fishery production. Meanwhile, Cambodia, ranking third, reported an inland capture fishery production volume of 402,205 MT in 2022 which represented 76.3 % of the country’s total production from capture fisheries, and 46.9 % of the country’s total fishery production, and 0.8 % of the region’s total fishery production.

It should be noted, however, that such production volumes could not be accurate considering that most of the countries still need to improve their systems of collecting and compiling their respective fishery statistics, especially concerning their production from inland capture fisheries.

Only four countries, namely: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand, provided production data from inland capture fisheries by species, while the other countries were not able to report due to the inadequacy of expertise in identifying the catch by species. Capacity building in this aspect is, therefore, necessary to enable the countries to compile their respective inland fishery production by major groups of species. Thus, production from inland capture fisheries of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Viet Nam in 2022 could not be analyzed in terms of species because these countries were not able to provide the breakdown of their production volume by species. Nonetheless, the production of Indonesia as the region’s second-highest producer was made up mainly of the Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) which accounted for about 10.8 % of the country’s total production from inland capture fisheries.

Table 7. Inland capture fishery production of the Southeast Asian countries in 2022 by quantity (MT)

The group of freshwater fishes nei (Osteichthyes) with no species classification provided the highest production from inland capture fisheries accounting for 75.6 % of the region’s total inland capture fisheries production in 2022 (Table 8). As for the major species, the production of striped snakehead (Channa striata) was the highest at 2.4 %, followed by Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) at 2.2 %, Tilapias nei (Oreochromis (=Tilapia) spp.) at 1.7 %, Cyprinidae at 1.5 %, and silver barb (Barbonymus gonionotus) at 1.0 %. In terms of value, the group of freshwater fishes nei (Osteichthyes) provided the highest value production from inland capture fisheries accounting for 55.9 % of the region’s total inland capture fisheries production followed by striped snakehead (Channa striata) at 3.7 %, Natantia decapods nei at 3.2 %, Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) at 2.2 %, and Tilapias nei (Oreochromis (=Tilapia) spp.) at 1.5 %.

As for the production value per volume, Natantia decapods nei was valued the highest among the commodities from inland capture fisheries at US$ 8,201/MT, followed by striped snakehead (Channa striata) at US$ 2,714/MT, climbing perch (Anabas testudineus) at US$ 2,384/MT, Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) at US$ 1,752/MT, torpedo-shaped catfishes nei (Clarias spp.) at US$ 1,730/MT.

Table 8. Production of major species from inland capture fisheries of Southeast Asia in 2022 by quantity (MT) and value (US$ 1,000)

* Data not available from Cambodia, Lao PDR and Malaysia
** Computation of price excludes corresponding quantity production from Cambodia, Lao PDR and Malaysia

In 2022, the region’s total production from aquaculture accounted for about 54 % in terms of volume and 47 % in terms of value. The aquaculture production over the past five years was rather fluctuated. Between 2018 and 2019, there was a slight increase in total aquaculture production with an increasing rate of 0.9 % but there was a decrease of about 1.3 % in 2020; moreover, there was an increase of about 3.0 % from 2021 to 2022 (Figure 4). The aquaculture production of Lao PDR and Viet Nam slightly increased from 2018 to 2022, while those of Cambodia and Singapore gradually decreased since 2021.

The production of Eucheuna seaweeds nei (Eucheuma spp.) of Indonesia as the largest producer of aquaculture products in 2022 contributed 52.7 % to the production volume and 18.0 % to the production value of the country’s aquaculture production. This was followed by Gracilaria seaweeds nei (Gracilaria spp.) accounting for 9.8 %, Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) at 8.6 %, and torpedo-shaped catfishes (Clarias spp.) at 7.5 %.

In the case of Viet Nam as the second-highest aquaculture producer, 33.0 % of its aquaculture production came from striped catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus), followed by freshwater fishes nei (Osteichthyes) at 16.6 %, whiteleg shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) at 15.5 %, and cyprinids nei (Cyprinidae) at 9.8 % of the country’s aquaculture production.

For the Philippines as the third-highest aquaculture producer, the main aquaculture product was elkhorn sea moss (Kappaphycus alvarezii) contributing 62.8 % to the country’s aquaculture production, followed by milkfish (Chanos chanos) at 16.5 %, Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) at 6.5 %, Tilapia nei (Oreochromis (=Tilapia) spp.) at 3.3 %, and spiny eucheuma (Eucheuma denticulatum) at 2.9 %.

For Myanmar, the main production from aquaculture was roho labeo (Labeo rohita) which accounted for 59.7 % of the country’s aquaculture production, followed by silver barb (Barbonymus gonionotus) at 14.4 %, and common carp (Cyprinus carpio) at 5.7 %. Meanwhile, the main aquaculture product of Thailand was whiteleg shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) accounting for 36.9 % of the country’s aquaculture production, followed by Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) at 26.9 %, hybrid catfishes (Clarias gariepinus × C. macrocephalus) at 9.3 %, and green mussel (Perna viridis) at 5.1 %.

For the value of the region’s aquaculture production in 2022, Brunei Darussalam attained the highest value at US$ 7,088/MT followed by Singapore at US$ 6,740/MT, Thailand at US$ 2,939/MT, Viet Nam at US$ 2,889/MT, Cambodia at U$ 2,000/MT, Myanmar at US$ 1,672/MT, Malaysia at US$ 1,587/MT, Lao PDR at US$ 1,500/MT, Philippines at US$ 957/MT, and Indonesia at US$ 926/MT.

Figure 4. Trend of the aquaculture production (MT) of the Southeast Asian countries from 2018 to 2022

In terms of aquaculture production based on three culture environments, namely: mariculture, brackishwater culture, and freshwater culture, in 2022, mariculture contributed 40 % of the region’s total aquaculture production while brackishwater culture contributed 23 %, and the remaining 37 % came from freshwater culture in terms of volume. In terms of value, mariculture contributed 11 %, brackishwater culture production contributed 51 %, and freshwater culture production contributed 38 % (Figure 5). Indonesia was the top producer of aquaculture products in the Southeast Asian region and had the highest production from mariculture, followed by Viet Nam from freshwater culture, Philippines from mariculture, Myanmar from freshwater culture, and Thailand from freshwater culture in 2022.

From 2021 to 2022, the production volume from mariculture, brackishwater culture, and freshwater culture slightly increased at 0.2 %, 8.5 % and 2.9 %, respectively, which could be due to the increased volume of production of whiteleg shrimp (Penaues vannamei) and striped catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) of Viet Nam. Meanwhile, the production value from freshwater culture slightly increased by 7.6 % which could be due to the increased production of striped catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) of Viet Nam and torpedo-shaped catfish (Clarias spp.) of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Philippines.

Figure 5 Proportion (%) of aquaculture production by culture environment of Southeast Asia in 2022 by quantity (left) and value (right))

Mariculture

In 2022, the region’s total production in terms of volume from mariculture contributed about 40 % to the region’s total aquaculture production and 11 % in terms of value. Farmed aquatic plants, such as Eucheuma seaweeds (Eucheuma spp.) and elkhorn sea moss (Kappaphycus alvarezii), contributed 90.5 % to the region’s total mariculture production volume. The Eucheuma seaweeds production had the highest volume contributing 76.0 % of the region’s total production volume from mariculture and was mainly produced by Indonesia, followed by elkhorn sea moss at 14.4 % mainly produced by the Philippines, and marine molluscs nei at 4.2 % mainly produced by Viet Nam. Meanwhile, milkfish (Chanos chanos) contributed 1.7 % and was mainly produced by the Philippines, green mussel (Perna viridis) at 1.0 %, blood cockle (Tegillarca granosa) at 0.7 %, and oysters at 0.5 % (Figure 6).

In terms of value, Eucheuma spp. contributed 59.4 % to the region’s total mariculture production followed by marine molluscs nei which contributed about 11.4 %, milkfish (Chanos chanos) contributed about 9.4 %, elkhorn sea moss (Kappaphycus alvarezii) contributed about 8.4 %, Tegillarca granosa contributed about 3.5%, green mussel (Perna viridis)contributed about 0.9 %, and oysters contributed about 0.5 % (Figure 6).

Figure 6. Proportion (%) of production of major species from mariculture of Southeast Asia in 2022 by quantity (left) and value (right)

Moreover, milkfish commanded the highest value per volume at US$ 2,255/MT, followed by blood cockle at US$ 2,137/MT, and marine mollusks nei at US$ 1,107/MT. Meanwhile, the lowest value was US$ 317/MT for Eucheuma seaweeds (Table 9).

As for value per volume of mariculture production in 2022, Brunei Darussalam posted the highest at an average of US$ 8,955/MT from its production of whiteleg shrimp (Penaeus vannamei), followed by Singapore at US$ 5,843/MT for mud spiny lobster and Myanmar at US$ 3,401/MT for orange mud crab (Scylla olivacea). Meanwhile, the mariculture production value of Cambodia was at US$ 2,145/MT, Viet Nam at US$ 1,372/MT, Thailand at US$ 1,290/MT, Philippines at US$ 412/MT, and Indonesia at US$ 332/MT.

Table 9. Production of major species from mariculture of Southeast Asia in 2022 by quantity (MT) and value (US$ 1,000)

The total production from brackishwater aquaculture in 2022 represented about 23 % of the region’s total aquaculture production and 51 % in terms of value. The major groups and species cultured in brackishwater include aquatic plants such as Gracilaria spp., crustaceans such as whiteleg shrimp (Penaeus vannamei), tiger shrimp (P. monodon), and other shrimps, as well as fishes such as milkfish (Chanos chanos), marine fishes, and others (Figure 7). Whiteleg shrimp (P. vannamei) was mainly produced by Viet Nam, Indonesia, and Thailand, and had the highest volume contributing 33.4 % of the region’s total production from brackishwater aquaculture. The second highest was Gracilaria seaweeds (Gracilaria spp.) at 24.5 % mainly produced by Indonesia, and the third highest was milkfish (Chanos chanos) at 16.9 % mainly produced by Indonesia and Philippines. Meanwhile, the group of fishes was 8.6 % followed by giant tiger prawn (Penaeus monodon) mainly from Viet Nam and Indonesia contributed 8.6 %, shrimps at 1.8 %, and giant seaperch (Lates calcarifer). It should be noted that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Brunei Darussalam had a significant increase in brackishwater culture production since 2020 due to the change in national policy that allowed the culture of whiteleg shrimps.

In terms of production value, whiteleg shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) contributed the highest value of about 54.5 % which was produced mainly by Indonesia, Viet Nam, and Thailand, followed by giant tiger shrimp (P. monodon) mainly from Viet Nam, Indonesia, Philippines, Myanmar, Malaysia, and Thailand at 22.1 %, milkfish (Chanos chanos) mainly from Indonesia and Philippines contributing at 8.9 %, and marine fishes at 7.9 %. Although gracilaria seaweeds attained the second-highest production volume (24.5 %), the contribution in terms of value was only 0.7 % (Figure 7).

Figure 7. Proportion (%) of production of major species from brackishwater culture of Southeast Asia in 2022 by quantity (left) and value (right)

The highest value per volume of production was attained by the giant tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) at US$ 8,314/MT followed by whiteleg shrimp (P. vannamei) at US$ 5,259/MT, other shrimps at US$ 5,005/MT, giant seaperch at US$ 3,399/MT, group of fishes at US$ 1,782/MT, milkfish (Chanos chanos) at US$ 1,510/MT, and Gracilaria spp. at US$ 95/MT (Table 10). Singapore posted the highest average value per volume of production at US$ 12,690/MT followed by Brunei Darussalam at US$ 6,992/MT, Myanmar at US$ 6,771/MT, Viet Nam at US$ 6,472/MT, Cambodia at US$ 5,000/MT, Thailand at US$ 4,522/MT, Philippines at US$ 3,535/MT, Indonesia at US$ 1,660/MT, and Malaysia at US$ 1,503/MT.

Table 10. Production of major species from brackishwater culture in Southeast Asia in 2022 by quantity (MT) and value (US$)

Freshwater Culture

The region’s total production from freshwater culture in 2022 accounted for about 37 % of the region’s total aquaculture production volume, which was a slight increase of about 2.9 % from 2021. In 2022, Indonesia had the highest production from freshwater aquaculture at 3,704,749 MT or 39.6 % of the region’s total freshwater aquaculture production, followed by Viet Nam at 3,220,862 MT or 34.4 %, Myanmar at 1,132,632 MT or 12.1 %, Thailand at 466,953 MT or 5.0 %, Cambodia at 314,110 MT or 3.4 %, Philippines at 262,020 MT or 2.8 %, Lao PDR at 145,000 MT or 1.5 %, and Malaysia at 115,868 MT or 1.2 %.

Having accounted for 38 % of the region’s total aquaculture production value in 2022, freshwater aquaculture emerged to be crucial, notwithstanding the increase of its production value by almost 7.6 % in 2022 compared with that of 2021 since Viet Nam could report the production value in 2021.

In terms of the production volume of the Southeast Asian countries by species (Figure 8), Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) accounted for 18.7 % of the region’s total production from freshwater aquaculture, which was contributed mainly by Indonesia. This was followed by striped catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) which accounted for 18.4 % and contributed mainly by Viet Nam, followed by torpedo-shaped catfishes (Clarias spp.) at 12.8 % mainly from Indonesia, common carp (Cyprinus carpio) at 8.0 % mainly from Indonesia, roho labeo (Labeo rohita) at 7.8 % mainly from Myanmar, a group of miscellaneous freshwater fishes at 6.4 % mainly from Viet Nam, Cyprinids nei at 6.0 % mainly from Viet Nam, pangas catfishes nei (Pangasius spp.) accounted for 4.8 % mainly from Indonesia and Cambodia, tilapias nei (Oreochromis (=Tilapia) spp.) at 4.0 % mainly from Viet Nam and Philippines, silver barb (Barbonymus gonionotus) at 2.8 % mainly from Myanmar and Cambodia, giant gourami (Osphronemus goramy) at 1.7 % mainly from Indonesia, Africa-bighead catfish, hybrid (Clarias gariepinus × C. macrocephalus) at 0.8 % mainly from Thailand, striped snakehead (Channa striata) at 0.8 % mainly from Cambodia, and giant river prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) at 0.8 % mainly from Thailand.

On the production value by species, the highest contributor to the region’s total production value from freshwater aquaculture in 2022 was Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) which accounted for 19.8 %, followed by striped catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) at 13.9 %, torpedo-shaped catfishes (Clarias spp.) at 10.7 %, common carp (Cyprinus carpio) at 9.6 %, Cyprinids nei at 7.8 %, roho labeo (Labeo rohita) at 6.6 %, a group of freshwater fishes at 5.5 %, pangas catfishes nei (Pangasius spp.) at 4.1 %, giant river prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) at 3.2 %, giant gourami (Osphronemus goramy) at 2.7 %, silver barb (Barbonymus gonionotus) at 2.1 %, striped snakehead (Channa striata) at 1.7 %, and Africa-bighead catfish, hybrid (Clarias gariepinus × C. macrocephalus) at 0.9 %.

Figure 8. Proportion (%) of production of major species from freshwater aquaculture of Southeast Asia in 2022 by quantity (left) and value (right)

For the value per volume of major freshwater aquaculture species, the highest was earned by giant river prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) at US$ 6,197/MT followed by striped snakehead (Channa striata) at US$ 3,275/MT, giant gourami (Osphronemus goramy) at US$ 2,392/MT, Cyprinids nei at US$ 1,980/MT, common carp (Cyprinus carpio) at US$ 1,829/MT, Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) at US$ 1,613/MT, tilapias nei (Oreochromis (= Tilapia) spp.) at US$ 1,424/MT, pangas catfishes nei (Pangasius spp.) at US$ 1,315/MT, a group of freshwater fishes at US$ 1,308/MT, roho labeo (Labeo rohita) at US$ 1,308/MT, torpedo-shaped catfishes (Clarias spp.) at US$ 1,277/MT, silver barb (Barbonymus gonionotus) at US$ 1,160/MT, and striped snakehead (Channa striata) at US$ 1,154/MT (Table 11).

For the value/quantity of major freshwater cultured species by country, Singapore presented the highest average value/quantity at US$ 9,595/MT. This was followed by Brunei Darussalam at US$ 7,333/MT, Cambodia at US$ 1,980/MT , Malaysia at US$ 1,920/MT, Thailand at US$ 1,742/MT, Lao PDR at US$ 1,500/MT, Philippines at US$ 1,542/MT, Indonesia at US$ 1,566/MT, and Myanmar at US$ 1,390/MT.

Table 11. Production of major freshwater species from freshwater aquaculture of Southeast Asia in 2022 by quantity (MT) and value (US$ 1,000)

As of 2022, the information on the fishing gear in the region reflected in this Bulletin was based on the production from marine capture fisheries by type of fishing gear as reported by four countries, namely: Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. For Singapore, the information on fishing gear is not available as no longer issue licenses since 2022. The production from marine capture fisheries of the Southeast Asian region by types of fishing gear is shown in Figure 9 and Table 12.

Gillnets were the highest-producing fishing gear accounting for about 26 % of the total production of all types of fishing gear, followed by purse seines at 19 %, hooks and lines at 18 %, trawls at 16 %, lift nets at 5 %, seine nets at 5 %, traps at 4 %, falling gear at 3 %, others at 2 %, shellfish and seaweed collecting gear at 1 %, and push/scoop nets at 1 %.

However, the production trend of fishing gear used in marine capture fisheries could not be appropriately analyzed as several countries such as Cambodia, Myanmar, Philippines, and Viet Nam were not able to provide the information.

For the production and species caught by type of gear in the respective countries, the highest production in Brunei Darussalam was from purse seines which accounted for about 73.3 % of the total production of all types of fishing gear, with skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) and yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) as the main catch. This was followed by trawls at 13.5 % catching false trevally (Lactarius lactarius) and cuttlefishes nei (Sepia spp.), gillnet at 5.9 % with yellowtail scad (Atule mate) as the main catch, and seine nets at 2.8 % with frigate and bullet tunas (Auxis thazard, A.rochei) as the main catch.

For Indonesia, gillnets had the highest production at about 29.2 % with catch composed of Indian mackerels nei (Rastrelliger spp.) at about 8.1 %, scads nei (Decapterus spp.) about 4.7 %, narrow-barred Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus commerson) about 3.6 %, longtail tuna (Thunnus tonggol) about 3.5 %, and carangids nei (Carangidae) about 3.1 % of total catch from this gear type. Hooks and lines ranked second catching skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) at about 11.7 %, yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) at about 8.9 %, narrow-barred Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus commerson) at about 7.2 %, and Groupers, seabasses nei (Serranidae) about 5.6 %. Purse seines came third which contributed 18.4 % to the marine capture fishery production catching scads nei (Decapterus spp.) at about 21.4 %, skipjack tunaat about 15.3 %, yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) at about 5.6 %, and frigate tunas (Auxis thazard) at about 4.6 %.

For Malaysia, trawls had the highest production at about 45.3 % with trash fishes at about 34.0 %, lizard fishes nei (Saurida spp.) at about 7.8 %, common squids nei (Loligo spp.) at about 5.8%, and threadfin breams nei (Nemipterus spp.) at about 4.7 % of total catch from this gear type. Gillnets ranked second contributing about 23.0 % to the marine capture fishery production including about 25.4 % Indian mackerels nei (Rastrelliger spp.), about 5.2 % tigertooth croaker (Otolithes ruber), about 4.1 %, Indian mackerel (Rastrelliger kanagurta), and about 4.1 % mixed fishes. Miscellaneous gears (others) came third which contributed 3.8 % to the marine capture fishery production catching jellyfishes nei (Rhopilema spp.) at about 42.1 %, paste shrimp (Acetes spp.) about 12.0 %, and Indo-Pacific swamp crab (Scylla serrata) about 5.2 %.

For Thailand, trawls contributed the highest production at about 39.5 % of the marine capture fishery production composed mainly of trash fishes at about 25.1 %, group of marine fishes nei at about 6.2 %, common aquids nei (Loligo spp.) at about 2.8 %, threadfin breams nei (Nemipterus spp.) at about 2.2 %, and Stolephorus anchovies (Stolephorus spp.) at about 2.1 % of total catch from this gear type. Purse seines ranked second contributing 27.1 % to the marine capture fishery production catching Stolephorus anchovies (Stolephorus spp.) at about 8.1 %, trash fishes at about 8.0 %, Sardinellas nei (Sardinella spp.) at about 6.0 %, scads nei (Decapterus spp.) at about 5.5 %, and a group of marine fishes nei at about 4.4 %. Gillnets came in third ranking which contributed about 14.7 % to the marine capture fishery production catching blue swimming crabs nei (Portunus spp.) at about 7.5 %, Indian mackerels nei (Rastrelliger spp.) at about 6.8 %, a group of marine fishes nei at about 6.6 %, and Sardinellas nei at about 6.5 %.

Figure 9. Proportion (%) of production by type of gear from marine capture fishery of Southeast Asia in 2022

Table 12. Production by type of gear from marine capture fishery of Southeast Asian countries in 2021 (MT)

This Bulletin covers only the registered boats in the respective Southeast Asian countries except for Lao PDR (Table 13). In 2022, Indonesia had the highest number of registered boats at 893,258 comprising 100,109 non-powered boats and 793,149 powered boats. Malaysia followed with 48,605 registered boats of which 3,089 were non-powered and 45,516 were powered. The third highest number was reported by Viet Nam with 34,919 registered boats, followed by Myanmar with 16,565 registered boats, Thailand with 9,068 registered boats, Cambodia with 7,867, Brunei Darussalam with 6,466, Philippines with 5,091 registered boats, and Singapore with 22 registered boats.

Table 13. Number of fishing boats of Southeast Asian countries in 2022

In 2022, Cambodia had the highest number of fishers at 1,962,526 fishers in unspecified fisheries subsector of which 12.2 % were full-time, 29.9 % were part-time, and 57.9 % were occasional. Myanmar came second with 830,173 fishers with 44.7 % involved in marine capture fishers, 46.1 % in inland capture fishery, 7.7 % in aquaculture, and 1.5 % in unspecified fisheries subsector. Malaysia followed with 149,165 fishers of which 77.8 % involved in marine capture fisheries, 14.7 % in aquaculture, and 7.5 % in inland capture fisheries. Although minimal, Brunei Darussalam and Singapore also reported their respective number of fishers with 2,658 fishers and 763 fishers, respectively (Figure 10 and Table 14). However, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam were not able to provide information on their respective number of fishers.

Efforts should therefore be intensified to improve the availability of data and information by encouraging the countries to enhance their collection system of data and information through the conduct of regular censuses and surveys. This would enable the countries to report the necessary data and information on fishing gear, fishery vessels, fishers and fish farmers, and especially small-scale fisheries operations.

Figure 10. Percentage (%) of fishers and fish farmers engaged in the fisheries subsectors of the Southeast Asian countries in 2022

Table 14. Number of fishers by working status of Southeast Asian countries in 2022

In 2022, only four countries reported the production from aquaculture of ornamental fishes, namely: Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Myanmar. Indonesia reported the highest production (1.5 billion pcs) that comprised of common carp (Cyprinus carpio), goldfish (Carassius auratus), Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens), guppy (Poecilia reticulata), and molly (Poecilia sphenops). Myanmar had the second highest production (788 million pcs) including Danio choprae, Danio erythromicron, Asian barbs nei (Puntius spp.), Danio kyathit, galaxy rasbora (Danio margaritatus), and Danio hysginon. Malaysia ranked third (234 million pcs) and its production included group of cyprinids, callichthyids, poecilids, characins, anabantids, and cichilds. Brunei Darussalam ranked fourth (1.1 million pcs) comprised of group of Cyprinus rubrofuscus, guppy (Poecilia reticulata), goldfish (Carassius auratus), Poecilia spp., and Osteoglossids.

In terms of value, Indonesia reported the highest value (US$ 431 million) from humphead cichlid (Cyphotilapia frontosa) at US$ 5/pc, red discus (Symphysodon discus) at US$ 3.2/pc, silver arowana (Osteoglossum bicirrhosum) at US$ 3/pc. Malaysia had the second highest value (US$ 103 million) obtained from osteoglossids at US$ 16.9/pc, cyprinids at US$ 0.4/pc, anabantids at US$ 0.9/pc, callichthyids at US$ 0.2/pc, and characins at US$ 0.2/pc. Myanmar reported the third highest value (US$ 133 million) which was obtained from Garra flavatra at US$ 0.3/pc, galaxy rasbora (Danio margaritatus) at US$ 0.1/pc, Danio kyathit at US$ 0.1/pc, and Yunnanilius brevis at US$ 0.1/pc. Brunei Darussalam reported the fourth highest value (US$ 24 million) obtained from arowana (Osteoglossidae) at US$ 318/pc, goldfish (Carassius auratus) at US$ 11.1/pc, freshwater angelfish (Pterophyllum scalare) at US$ 7.4/pc, Cyprinus rubrofuscus at US$ 5.9/pc..

The aquaculture of ornamental fishes is a budding industry in the Southeast Asian region. Therefore, efforts should be made to improve the compilation and reporting of data to have a better picture of this industry.

The information on the quantity of seeds produced from the aquaculture industry was recommended in several fora as it is a significant factor in enhancing the economic analysis of the region’s aquaculture industry. Thus, a compilation of the said information was initiated by SEAFDEC in 2008 although at that time only five countries, i.e. Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Singapore provided the relevant information. Brunei Darussalam started to provide the information annually from 2009 to 2022 except in 2010. Cambodia started providing the data in 2008 and 2009 but not from 2010 to 2014 and provided the data again in 2015 and 2016 but not in 2017–2022. Indonesia started to provide the data in 2010 until 2014 but not in 2015 until 2017 and provided the data again in 2020–2022. Malaysia started providing the data every year from 2008 to 2022 except in 2018. Myanmar started to provide the data in 2008–2014 but not in 2015 and 2016, and provided the data for this current issue of the Bulletin. Singapore started to provide the annual data from 2008 until this issue of the Bulletin, except in 2014.
Meanwhile, Viet Nam started to provide the data in 2021.

For the subsequent issues of the Bulletin, efforts would be exerted to gather the said information and encourage other Southeast Asian countries, i.e. Lao PDR, Philippines, and Thailand to provide the data. The real picture of this significant niche of the aquaculture industry could be established when all Southeast Asian countries provide the necessary data.

Although the capture fisheries commodities of the Southeast Asian countries varied, the data on producer prices was established only for commonly caught species. For this current issue of the Bulletin, only eight Southeast Asian countries, i.e. Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, provided the data related to the producer prices of commodities from their respective capture fisheries production. Therefore, it is crucial to intensify the efforts to obtain the data on producer prices from other Southeast Asian countries to complete the Southeast Asian commodity price scenario in the future issues of the Bulletin.

In 2022, the producer price of certain commercially important species including inland fish species was US$ 2.8/kg for common carp (Cyprinus carpio) in Indonesia while it was US$ 1.6/kg in Thailand. For Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), the producer price was US$ 1.8/kg in Indonesia and US$ 0.9/kg in Myanmar

For torpedo-shaped catfishes nei (Clarias spp.), it was US$ 2.0/kg in Thailand and US$ 1.6/kg in Indonesia. For river eel nei (Anguilla spp.) it was US$ 4.3/kg in Indonesia compared to US$ 0.7/kg in Malaysia. The producer price of Indonesian snakehead (Channa micropeltes) was much higher at US$ 2.65 in Indonesia compared to US$ 2.0/kg in Thailand. For giant river prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii), the producer price in Brunei Darussalam was higher at US$ 11.9/kg compared to US$ 6.2/kg in Indonesia.

For marine fish species, the producer price of barramundi or giant sea perch (Lates calcarifer) was US$ 8.0/kg in Brunei Darussalam, US$ 7.4/kg in Singapore and US$ 2.6/kg in Indonesia. Milkfish (Chanos chanos) was US$ 2.9/kg in Philippines and US$ 1.9/kg in Indonesia. For sea catfishes nei (Arius spp.) was US$ 2.6/kg in Singapore and US$ 1.3/kg in Malaysia. Fusiliers caesio nei (Caesio spp.) cost US$ 5.6 in Brnei Darussalam and US$ 1.7/kg in Indonesia. Grouper nei (Epinephelus spp.) cost US$ 10.2/kg in Singapore and US$ 4.8/kg in Malaysia. For threadfin breams nei (Nemipterus spp.), the producer price in Singapore was US$ 7.4/kg and US$ 1.2/kg in Thailand. The cost of snappers nei (Lutjanus spp.) was US$ 6.6/kg in Singapore while it was US$2.2/kg in Indonesia. Threadfins and tasselfishes nei (Polynemidae) were high at US$ 15.6/kg in Singapore.

The producer price of yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) was highest at US$ 2.9/kg in Malaysia while the lowest was at US$ 1.7/kg in Thailand and Brunei Darussalam. Albacore (Thunnus alalunga) was priced at US$ 3.6/kg in Malaysia and compared to US$ 1.8/kg in Indonesia. For narrow-barred Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus commerson) was US$ 5.9/kg and US$ 2.6/kg in Indonesia. Seerfishes nei (Scomberomorus spp.) cost at US$ 7.2/kg in Singapore and US$ 2.5 in Cambodia. Scads nei (Decapterus spp.) was priced at US$ 3.7/kg in Singapore and compared to US$ 1.3 /kg in Indonesia. For yellowtail scad (Atule mate), the producer price was US$ 5.6 /kg in Brunei Darussalam while the price was US$ 2.7/kg in Indonesia. Chinese silver pomfret (Pampus chinensis) was high at US$ 14.8/kg in Malaysia.

For Indo-Pacific swamp crab (Scylla serrata), the highest producer price was reported by Singapore at US$ 14.8 /kg while the lowest was US$ 3.1 /kg in Indonesia. For blue swimming crab (Portunus pelagicus), the producer price in Cambodia was US$ 6.3/kg while the lowest was US$ 3.2/kg in Indonesia. For the giant tiger prawn (Penaeus monodon), the producer price in the Philippines was quite high at US$ 13.4/kg compared to US$ 4.8/kg in Cambodia and Indonesia; while the green tiger prawn (Penaeus semisulcatus) was US$ 7.6/kg in Thailand and the lowest was at US$ 0.7/kg in Brunei Darussalam. The tropical spiny lobsters nei (Panulirus spp.) in Indonesia and Malaysia were high at US$ 16.1/kg and US$ 1.6/kg, respectively. For common squids nei (Loligo spp.), the price was US$ 5.8/kg in Singapore compared to US$ 1.8/kg in Brunei Darussalam, while Natantia decapods nei was quite high at US$ 9.8 /kg in Singapore. The results of the analysis indicated that the producer prices of several commodities differed in each country, considering that prices were influenced by different factors such as supply and demand, cost of production including transportation, alternative commodities, and others. Furthermore, it could be observed that there were generally wide ranges of producer prices of the same commodities among the countries in the region.