Fisheries Statistics Summary 2023

From 2019 to 2023, the worldwide trend of fishery production from both capture fisheries and aquaculture (Table 1) had been steadily increasing at an average rate of about 3.7 million MT annually. Countries in Asia (excluding those in Southeast Asia) are among the major fish producers, contributing about 55 % to the total fishery production during the past five years. In the Southeast Asian region, fishery production experienced a slight decline in 2020 and 2021 but increased again in 2022 and 2023. Overall, production increased from 46.8 million MT in 2019 to 48.5 million MT in 2023 with an annual average increase rate of 0.43 million MT, while the region’s total contribution to the world’s total fishery production in 2023 was approximately 21.3 %. 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 2019 to 2023 (million MT)*

* 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 2019 to 2023 exhibited a fluctuating trend in terms of both quantity and value. Nevertheless, the overall trend was still increasing. The annual average increase in quantity from 2019 to 2023 was about 0.9 %, while the annual average rate of increase of the value was about 11.5 % since Viet Nam reported the value from 2021 to 2023, 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 quantity, most of the regional fishery commodities harvested were of high value. By country, Indonesia reported the highest fishery production in 2023 in terms of quantity accounting for about 47.8 % of the total fishery production of Southeast Asia, followed by Viet Nam contributing about 19.3 %, and Myanmar at 13.0 %. The Philippines ranked fourth accounting for 8.8 %, Thailand at 5.1 %, Malaysia at 3.7 %, and Cambodia at 1.8 %. The contributions of Lao PDR, Brunei Darussalam, and Singapore to the fishery production of Southeast Asia in 2023 were minimal in terms of quantity.

In terms of value, Indonesia accounted for about 34.3 % of the total value of the region’s fishery production with Viet Nam emerged second contributing about 31.4 %, and Myanmar came in third contributing about 13.5 %. Meanwhile, the Philippines which ranked fourth contributed about 7.3 %, Thailand which ranked fifth accounted for 6.2 %, followed by Malaysia which contributed about 4.3 %. The trend of the fishery production of the Southeast Asian countries in 2019–2023 is shown in Figure 1.

Table 2. Total fishery production of Southeast Asia by quantity and value (2019–2023)

Figure 1. Fishery production of the Southeast Asian countries in 2019–2023 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 2023 as shown in Table 3 and Figure 2 indicated that the largest portion of the production quantity was derived from aquaculture accounting for approximately 54.5 % followed by marine capture fisheries at about 38.9 %, and inland capture fisheries at 6.5 %. In terms of production value, aquaculture was at 47.7 %, marine capture fisheries accounted for 45.5 %, and inland capture fisheries at 6.8 %. While the value per MT of marine capture fishery production was about US$ 1,963/MT, those from inland capture fisheries and aquaculture were about US$ 1,802/MT and US$ 1,468/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 2023 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 2023 by quantity (left) and value (right))

The region’s production from marine capture fisheries in 2020–2022 had been generally fluctuating as shown in Table 4. In terms of quantity, there was a slight increase in 2020 at about 1.2 %, decrease in 2021 at about 2.3 %, and an increase in 2022 and 2023 at about 3.8 % and 1.4 %, respectively. While the production value during 2019–2023 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 2023, it should be noted that the reported value has significantly increased since 2021 as Viet Nam started reporting statistics on production value this year.

Table 4. Marine capture fishery production of Southeast Asia in 2019–2023 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 2019–2023 indicated that Indonesia had the highest contribution to the region’s total production. Specifically, in 2023, the production of Indonesia was 7.4 million MT accounting for approximately 39.0 % of the region’s total, followed by Viet Nam with 3.6 million MT (19.2 %), Myanmar with 3.4 million MT (18.1 %), and Philippines with 1.7 million MT (9.0 %). Thailand and Malaysia also produced a considerable quantity of aquatic commodities from marine capture fisheries with 1.4 million MT (7.2 %) and 1.3 million MT (6.7 %), respectively. The region’s production quantity from marine capture fisheries in 2023 can be gleaned from Figure 3.

Figure 3. Marine capture fishery production of the Southeast Asian countries in 2023 by quantity (MT)

In terms of value, Indonesia which led the Southeast Asian countries, accounted for about 36.3 % of the region’s marine capture fishery production value in 2023, with Viet Nam emerging second contributing about 26.4 %. Meanwhile, Myanmar which came in third in terms of value contributed about 14.9 %, Philippines came in the fourth at 9.3 %, Malaysia at 6.7 %, and lastly, Thailand contributed about 5.5 %. The contributions of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, and Singapore to the marine capture fishery production of Southeast Asia in 2023 were minimal in terms of value.

Aggregating the 2023 production quantity from marine capture fisheries by major commodity groups (Table 5), marine fishes had the highest quantity accounting for about 86.6 % followed by molluscs at 6.1 %, while crustaceans, seaweeds, and invertebrates contributed 4.3 %, 0.2 %, and 0.03 %, respectively. It should be noted that 2.7 % was contributed by other commodity groups which could not be appropriately classified as some countries were not able to provide their respective production quantities by species. From 2022 to 2023, the production quantity of invertebrates, seaweeds, and marine fishes decreased by about 5.9 %, 3.7 %, and 0.3 %, respectively. On the other hand, the production quantity of others, crustaceans, and mollusks increased by about 81.0 %, 4.8 %, and 3.4 %, respectively.

Table 5. Production of the major commodity groups from marine capture fisheries of Southeast Asia in 2019–2023 by quantity (MT)

Comparing the quantity of the total fishery production in 2023 with that of 2022, 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 Indonesia such as Stolephorus anchovies nei (Stolephorus spp.) from Fishing Area 57¹ and 71², carangids nei (Carangidae), yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares), and common squids nei (Loligo spp.) from Fishing Area 71; increased production of major marine capture fishery of Thailand, especially Indian mackerel (Rastrelliger kanagurta), Indian mackerel nei (Rastrelliger spp.), Sardinellas nei (Sardinella spp.), and common squids nei (Loligo spp.) from Fishing Area 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 bullet tuna (Auxis rochei), yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares), kawakawa (Euthynnus affinis), scads nei (Decapterus spp.), carangids nei (Carangidae), bigeye scad (Selar crumenophthalmus), and Indian mackerel (Rastrelliger kanagurta) increased in 2023 when compared with 2022.

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 2023 are shown in Table 6. The data indicate that miscellaneous marine fishes (unidentified) contributed the highest quantity at about 56.5 % and value at about 50.5 %. Production from the tunas and tuna-like species group contributed about 14.5 % to the total production quantity and ranked second in terms of value accounting for about 12.3 % of the total production value, followed by the scads group that contributed about 8.5 % to the total production quantity and value of about 7.0 % of the total production value, and mollusks contributed about 6.1 % to the total production quantity and value at about 13.9 % of the total production value.

The data in Table 6 also suggest that the production value/quantity of seerfishes nei (Scomberomorus spp.) at US$ 4,675/MT was the highest among the commodities followed by the mollusks group at US$ 4,521/MT, the crustaceans group at US$ 4,504/MT, narrow-barred Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus commerson) at US$ 3,294/MT, Indo-Pacific king mackerel (Scomberomorus guttatus) at US$ 3,121/MT, Southern bluefin tuna (Thunnus maccoyii) at US$ 3,053/MT, albacore tuna (Thunnus alalunga) at US$ 2,794/MT, other scads at US$ 2,556/MT, short mackerel (Rastrelliger brachysoma) at US$ 2,384/MT, yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) at US$ 2,377/MT, and bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus) at US$ 2,272/MT.

Table 6. Production of commercially-important species from marine capture fishery of Southeast Asia in 2023 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 2019–2023, 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 2023 was 3,162,510 MT, accounting for approximately 14.3 % 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 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 2019–2023, Myanmar maintained a stable inland fishery production from 2019 to 2023 that accounted for about 33.2 % of the country’s total production from capture fisheries, 26.8 % 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 quantity of 472,086 MT in 2023 which represented 6.0 % of the country’s production from capture fisheries, 2.0 % 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 quantity of 426,750 MT in 2023 which represented 77.3 % of the country’s total production from capture fisheries, and 49.3 % of the country’s total fishery production, and 0.9 % of the region’s total fishery production.

It should be noted, however, that such production quantities 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 2023 could not be analyzed in terms of species because these countries were not able to provide the breakdown of their production quantity 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 11.8 % of the country’s total production from inland capture fisheries.

Table 7. Inland capture fishery production of the Southeast Asian countries in 2023 by quantity (MT)

The group of freshwater fishes nei (Osteichthyes) with no species classification provided the highest production from inland capture fisheries accounting for 76.0 % of the region’s total inland capture fisheries production in 2023 (Table 8). As for the major species, the production of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) was the highest at 2.3 %, followed by Tilapias nei (Oreochromis (=Tilapia) spp.) at 1.7 %, Cyprinidae at 1.5 %, Indonesia snakehead (Channa micropeltes) at 1.5 %, and striped snakehead (Channa striata) at 1.4 %. In terms of value, the group of freshwater fishes nei (Osteichthyes) provided the highest production value from inland capture fisheries, accounting for 55.0 % of the region’s total inland capture fisheries production followed by Natantia decapods nei at 3.8 %, striped snakehead (Channa striata) at 3.3 %, Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) at 2.4 %, and Tilapias nei (Oreochromis (=Tilapia) spp.) at 1.4 %.

As for the production value per quantity, Natantia decapods nei was valued the highest among the commodities from inland capture fisheries at US$ 10,369/MT, followed by striped snakehead (Channa striata) at US$ 4,105/MT, pangas catfishes nei (Pangasius spp.) at US$ 2,872/MT, climbing perch (Anabas testudineus) at US$ 2,298/MT, Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) at US$ 1,850/MT, and torpedo-shaped catfishes nei (Clarias spp.) at US$ 1,760/MT.

Table 8. Production of major species from inland capture fisheries of Southeast Asia in 2023 by quantity (MT) and value (US$ 1,000)

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

In 2023, the region’s total production from aquaculture accounted for about 55 % in terms of quantity and 48 % in terms of value. The aquaculture production over the past five years was rather fluctuating. From 2019 to 2020, there was a slight decrease in total aquaculture production with a decreasing average rate of 0.9 %; moreover, there was an increase of about 3.0 % and 3.5 % in 2021 and 2023, respectively (Figure 4).

For Indonesia as the largest producer of aquaculture products in 2023, the production of Eucheuna seaweeds nei (Eucheuma spp.) contributed 53.5 % to the production quantity and 13.1 % to the production value of the country’s aquaculture production. This was followed by Gracilaria seaweeds nei (Gracilaria spp.) accounting for 10.0 %, Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) at 8.3 %, and torpedo-shaped catfishes (Clarias spp.) at 7.4 %.

In the case of Viet Nam as the second-highest aquaculture producer, 31.7 % of its aquaculture production came from striped catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus), followed by freshwater fishes nei (Osteichthyes) at 16.8 %, whiteleg shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) at 14.9 %, and cyprinids nei (Cyprinidae) at 9.6 % 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 64.5 % to the country’s aquaculture production, followed by milkfish (Chanos chanos) at 14.8 %, Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) at 6.5 %, Tilapia nei (Oreochromis (=Tilapia) spp.) at 4.2 %, and spiny eucheuma (Eucheuma denticulatum) at 3.7 %.

For Myanmar, the main production from aquaculture was roho labeo (Labeo rohita) which accounted for 59.6 % of the country’s aquaculture production, followed by Tilapia nei (Oreochromis (=Tilapia) spp.) at 13.0 %, silver barb (Barbonymus gonionotus) at 9.0 %, mrigal carp (Cirrhinus mrigala) at 5.8 %, and common carp (Cyprinus carpio) at 2.8 %.

Meanwhile, the main aquaculture product of Thailand was whiteleg shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) accounting for 37.0 % of the country’s aquaculture production, followed by Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) at 26.6 %, hybrid catfishes (Clarias gariepinus × C. macrocephalus) at 9.1 %, Barramundi (Lates calcarifer) at 5.5 %, and green mussel (Perna viridis) at 4.9 %

Figure 4. Trend of the aquaculture production (MT) of the Southeast Asian countries from 2019 to 2023

For the value of the region’s aquaculture production in 2023, Brunei Darussalam attained the highest value at US$ 8,383/MT followed by Singapore at US$ 6,289/MT, Cambodia at U$ 3,271/MT, Thailand at US$ 2,797/MT, Viet Nam at US$ 2,771/MT, Myanmar at US$ 2,320/MT, Malaysia at US$ 1,916/MT, Lao PDR at US$ 1,691/MT, Philippines at US$ 938/MT, and Indonesia at US$ 872/MT.

In terms of aquaculture production based on three culture environments, namely: mariculture, brackishwater culture, and freshwater culture, in 2023, 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 quantity. In terms of value, mariculture contributed 9 %, brackishwater culture production contributed 50 %, and freshwater culture production contributed 41 % (Figure 5).

Figure 5 Proportion (%) of aquaculture production by culture environment of Southeast Asia in 2023 by quantity (left) and value (right))

Mariculture

In 2023, the region’s total production in terms of quantity from mariculture contributed about 40 % to the region’s total aquaculture production and 9 % in terms of value. Farmed aquatic plants, such as Eucheuma seaweeds nei (Eucheuma spp.) and elkhorn sea moss (Kappaphycus alvarezii), contributed 90.9 % to the region’s total mariculture production quantity. The Eucheuma seaweeds production had the highest quantity contributing 76.6 % of the region’s total production quantity from mariculture and was mainly produced by Indonesia, followed by elkhorn sea moss at 14.3 % mainly produced by the Philippines, and marine molluscs nei at 3.9 % 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 0.6 %, and oysters at 0.5 % (Figure 6).

In terms of value, Eucheuma seaweeds nei (Eucheuma spp.) contributed 49.5 % to the region’s total mariculture production followed by marine molluscs nei which contributed about 15.7 %, milkfish (Chanos chanos) contributed about 11.3 %, elkhorn sea moss (Kappaphycus alvarezii) contributed about 6.3 %, blood cockle (Tegillarca granosa) contributed about 4.2 %, green mussel (Perna viridis) contributed about 1.2 %, and oysters contributed about 1.2 % (Figure 6).

Figure 6. Proportion (%) of production of major species from mariculture of Southeast Asia in 2023 by quantity (left) and value (right)

Among the major mariculture species, blood cockle commanded the highest value per quantity at US$ 2,442/MT, followed by milkfish at US$ 2,254/MT, and marine mollusks nei at US$ 1,343/MT. Meanwhile, the lowest value was US$ 145/MT for Elkhorn sea moss (Table 9).

As for value per quantity of mariculture production in 2022, Singapore posted the highest at an average of US$ 5,583/MT from its production of mud spiny lobster, followed by Myanmar at US$ 4,022/MT for orange mud crab (Scylla olivacea) and Cambodia at US$ 2,466/MT for Penaeus shrimps nei. Meanwhile, the mariculture production value of Viet Nam is US$ 1,649/MT, Thailand at US$ 1,541/MT, Brunei Darussalam at US$ 970/MT, Philippines at US$ 363/MT, and Indonesia at US$ 234/MT.

Table 9. Production of major species from mariculture of Southeast Asia in 2023 by quantity (MT) and value (US$ 1,000)

Brackishwater Culture

The total production from brackishwater aquaculture in 2023 represented about 23 % of the region’s total aquaculture production and 50 % 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 quantity contributing 33.8 % of the region’s total production from brackishwater aquaculture. The second highest was Gracilaria seaweeds (Gracilaria spp.) at 25.6 % mainly produced by Indonesia; and the third highest was milkfish (Chanos chanos) at 15.0 % mainly produced by Indonesia and Philippines. Meanwhile, giant tiger prawn (Penaeus monodon) mainly from Viet Nam and Indonesia contributed 8.5 %, followed by the group of fishes at 8.0 %, other shrimps at 2.0 %, and giant seaperch (Lates calcarifer) at 1.9 %.

In terms of production value, giant tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) contributed the highest value of about 22.6 % which was produced mainly by Viet Nam and Indonesia; followed by whiteleg shrimp (P. vannamei) mainly from Viet Nam, Indonesia, and Thailand at 18.0 %; milkfish (Chanos chanos) mainly from Indonesia and Philippines contributing at 7.6 %; and marine fishes at 4.1 %. Although gracilaria seaweeds attained the second-highest production quantity (25.6 %), the contribution in terms of value was only 0.5 % (Figure 7).

Figure 7. Proportion (%) of production of major species from brackishwater culture of Southeast Asia in 2023 by quantity (left) and value (right)

The highest value per quantity of production was attained by the giant tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) at US$ 8,544/MT followed by other shrimps at US$ 4,112/MT, giant seaperch at US$ 3,074/MT, whiteleg shrimp (P. vannamei) at US$ ,708/MT, group of fishes at US$ 1,651/MT, milkfish (Chanos chanos) at US$ 1,631/MT, and Gracilaria spp. at US$ 64/MT (Table 10). Singapore posted the highest average value per quantity of production at US$ 11,131/MT followed by Myanmar at US$ 8,732/MT, Brunei Darussalam at US$ 8,352/MT, Viet Nam at US$ 6,291/MT, Cambodia at US$ 5,000/MT, Thailand at US$ 4,097/MT, Philippines at US$ 3,855/MT, Malaysia at US$ 1,882/MT, and Indonesia at US$ 1,653/MT.

Table 10. Production of major species from brackishwater culture in Southeast Asia in 2023 by quantity (MT) and value (US$)

Freshwater Culture

The region’s total production from freshwater culture in 2023 accounted for about 37 % of the region’s total aquaculture production quantity and 41 % in terms of value. In 2023, Indonesia had the highest production from freshwater aquaculture at 3,710,749 MT or 38.3 % of the region’s total freshwater aquaculture production, followed by Viet Nam at 3,542,998 MT or 36.6 %, Myanmar at 1,153,223 MT or 11.9 %, Thailand at 459,980 MT or 4.7 %, Cambodia at 302,520 MT or 3.1 %, Philippines at 266,845 MT or 2.8 %, Lao PDR at 140,000 MT or 1.4 %, and Malaysia at 113,076 MT or 1.2 %. Brunei Darussalam and Singapore have small amount of freshwater aquaculture production.

In terms of the production quantity of the Southeast Asian countries by species (Figure 8), striped catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) accounted for 18.5 % of the region’s total production from freshwater aquaculture, which was contributed mainly by Viet Nam. This was followed by Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) which accounted for 18.3 % and contributed mainly by Indonesia, torpedo-shaped catfishes (Clarias spp.) at 12.9 % mainly from Indonesia, roho labeo (Labeo rohita) at 7.6 % mainly from Myanmar, common carp (Cyprinus carpio) at 7.2 % mainly from Indonesia, a group of miscellaneous freshwater fishes at 6.8 % mainly from Viet Nam, Cyprinids nei at 5.9 % mainly from Viet Nam, tilapias nei (Oreochromis(=Tilapia) spp.) at 4.6 % mainly from Viet Nam and Myanmar, pangas catfishes nei (Pangasius spp.) accounted for 4.6 % mainly from Indonesia and Cambodia, silver barb (Barbonymus gonionotus) at 2.0 % mainly from Myanmar and Cambodia, giant gourami (Osphronemus goramy) at 1.6 % mainly from Indonesia, Africa-bighead catfish, hybrid (Clarias gariepinus × C. macrocephalus) at 0.9 % mainly from Thailand, striped snakehead (Channa striata) at 0.7 % mainly from Cambodia, and giant river prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) at 0.7 % mainly from Thailand and Myanmar.

On the production value by species, the highest contributor to the region’s total production value from freshwater aquaculture in 2023 was Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) which accounted for 15.5 %, followed by striped catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) at 10.7 %, torpedo-shaped catfishes (Clarias spp.) at 8.5 %, roho labeo (Labeo rohita) at 7.9 %, common carp (Cyprinus carpio) at 7.0 %, Cyprinids nei at 5.8 %, a group of freshwater fishes at 4.4 %, pangas catfishes nei (Pangasius spp.) at 3.4 %, tilapias nei (Oreochromis(=Tilapia) spp.) at 3.0 %, striped snakehead (Channa striata) at 2.8 %, giant river prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) at 2.4 %, giant gourami (Osphronemus goramy) at 1.9 %, silver barb (Barbonymus gonionotus) at 1.5 %, and Africa-bighead catfish, hybrid (Clarias gariepinus × C. macrocephalus) at 0.6 %.

Figure 8. Proportion (%) of production of major species from freshwater aquaculture of Southeast Asia in 2023 by quantity (left) and value (right)

For the value per quantity of major freshwater aquaculture species, the highest was earned by striped snakehead (Channa striata) at US$ 7,848/MT followed by giant river prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) at US$ 6,810/MT, giant gourami (Osphronemus goramy) at US$ 2,359/MT, roho labeo (Labeo rohita) at US$ 2,090/MT, Cyprinids nei at US$ 1,947/MT, common carp (Cyprinus carpio) at US$ 1,936/MT, Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) at US$ 1,693/MT, silver barb (Barbonymus gonionotus) at US$ 1,521/MT, pangas catfishes nei (Pangasius spp.) at US$ 1,465/MT, Africa-bighead catfish, hybrid (Clarias gariepinus × C. macrocephalus) at US$ 1,375/MT, Tilapias nei (Oreochromis (= Tilapia) spp.) at US$ 1,317/MT, torpedoshaped catfishes (Clarias spp.) at US$ 1,312/MT, a group of freshwater fishes at US$ 1,281/MT, and striped catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) at US$ 1,149/MT (Table 11).

For the value/quantity of major freshwater cultured species by country, Singapore presented the highest average value/quantity at US$ 9,030/MT. This was followed by Brunei Darussalam at US$ 6,815/MT, Cambodia at US$ 3,294/MT , Malaysia at US$ 2,035/MT, Myanmar at US$ 2,009/MT, Philippines at US$ 1,784/MT, Thailand at US$ 1,765/MT, Lao PDR at US$ 1,691/MT, Indonesia at US$ 1,611/MT, and Viet Nam at US$ 1,383/MT.

Table 11. Production of major freshwater species from freshwater aquaculture of Southeast Asia in 2023 by quantity (MT) and value (US$ 1,000)

As of 2023, the information on the types of fishing gear in the region reflected in this Bulletin was based on the production from marine capture fisheries as reported by four countries, namely: Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. For Singapore, the information on fishing gear is not available as licenses were no longer issued 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.

Purse seines were the highest-producing fishing gear accounting for about 25 % of the total production of all types of fishing gear, followed by gillnets at 22 %, hooks and lines at 18 %, trawls at 16 %, lift nets at 5 %, traps at 5 %, seine nets at 4 %, shellfish and seaweed collecting gear at 2 %, others at 2 %, falling gear at 2 %, and push/scoop nets at 0.5 %.

Figure 9. Proportion (%) of production by type of gear from marine capture fishery of Southeast Asia in 2023

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 80.1 % 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 10.5 % catching false trevally (Lactarius lactarius) and cuttlefishes nei (Sepia spp.), gillnet at 4.2 % with yellowtail scad (Atule mate) as the main catch, and seine nets at 2.0 % with frigate and bullet tunas (Auxis thazard, A.rochei) and Metapenaeus shrimps nei (Metapenaeus spp.) as the main catch.

For Indonesia, hooks and lines had the highest production at about 26.9 % with catch composed of yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) at about 20.4 %, skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) at about 17.0 %, Groupers, seabasses nei (Serranidae) at about 13.3 %, snappers nei (Lutjanus spp.) at about 9.8 %, and carangids nei (Canrangidae) at about 9.7 %. Gillnets ranked second, catching at about 24.3 % of the total production of all types of fishing gear, with Indian mackerels nei (Rastrelliger spp.) at about 13.5 %, scads nei (Decapterus spp.) about 9.5 %, narrow-barred Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus commerson) about 7.3 %, longtail tuna (Thunnus tonggol) about 6.3 %, and carangids nei (Carangidae) about 6.1 % of total catch from this gear type. Purse seines came third which contributed 23.7 % to the marine capture fishery production catching scads nei (Decapterus spp.) at about 31.8 %, skipjack tuna at about 22.8 %, yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) at about 6.8 %, and frigate tunas (Auxis thazard) at about 5.5 %.

For Malaysia, trawls had the highest production at about 43.7 % with catch composed of trash fishes at about 34.0 %, lizard fishes nei (Saurida spp.) at about 9.0 %, common squids nei (Loligo spp.) at about 8.0%, and Japanese threadfin bream (Nemipterus japonicus) at about 4.7 % of total catch from this gear type. Gillnets ranked second contributing about 22.0 % to the marine capture fishery production including about 21.8 % Indian mackerels nei (Rastrelliger spp.), about 6.0 % whiteleg shrimp (Penaeus vannamei), about 5.5 % trash fishes, and about 5.3 %, Indian mackerel (Rastrelliger kanagurta). Purse seines came third which contributed 21.6 % to the marine capture fishery production catching shortfin scad (Decapterus macrosoma) at about 23.4 %, trahs fishes about 12.5 %, longtail tuna (Thunnus tonggol) about 9.1 %, and torpedo scad (Megalaspis cordyla) about 8.1 %.

For Thailand, trawls contributed the highest production at about 36.9 % of the marine capture fishery production with catch composed mainly of trash fishes at about 59.0 %, group of marine fishes nei at about 14.7 %, common aquids nei (Loligo spp.) at about 6.8 %, threadfin breams nei (Nemipterus spp.) at about 4.9 %, and Stolephorus anchovies (Stolephorus spp.) at about 3.8 % of total catch from this gear type. Purse seines ranked second contributing 31.9 % to the marine capture fishery production catching trash fishes at about 22.6 %, Stolephorus anchovies (Stolephorus spp.) at about 15.0 %, scads nei (Decapterus spp.) at about 12.2 %, Sardinellas nei (Sardinella spp.) at about 11.4 %, and a group of marine fishes nei at about 8.6 %. Gillnets came in third ranking which contributed about 15.3 % to the marine capture fishery production catching Sardinellas nei (Sardinella spp.) at about 16.2 %, blue swimming crabs nei (Portunus spp.) at about 15.6 %, Indian mackerels nei (Rastrelliger spp.) at about 14.7 %, and a group of marine fishes nei at about 14.3 %.

Table 12. Production by type of gear from marine capture fishery of Southeast Asian countries in 2023 (MT)

This Bulletin covers only the registered boats in the respective Southeast Asian countries except for Lao PDR (Table 13). In 2023, Indonesia had the highest number of registered boats at 880,423 comprising 89,337 non-powered boats and 791,086 powered boats. Malaysia followed with 49,173 registered boats of which 3,130 were non-powered and 46,043 were powered. The third highest number was reported by Viet Nam with 34,826 registered boats, followed by Myanmar with 14,465 registered boats, Thailand with 9,499 registered boats, Cambodia with 7,685, Philippines with 5,557 registered boats, Brunei Darussalam with 1,399, and Singapore with 19 registered boats.

Table 13. Number of fishing boats of Southeast Asian countries in 2023

In 2023, Indonesia had the highest number of fishers at 5,284,061 fishers, with 53 % involved in marine capture fisheries, 39 % in aquaculture, and 8 % in inland capture fisheries. Cambodia came second with 2,030,341 fishers in the unspecified fisheries sub-sector, of which 13 % were full-time, 28 % were parttime, and 59 % were occasional. Myanmar followed with 821,097 fishers of which 46 % involved in marine capture fisheries, 46 % in inland capture fisheries, 7 % in aquaculture, and 1 % in unspecified sub-sector. Malaysia came fourth with 91,197 fishers, with 64 % in marine capture fisheries, 12 % in inland capture fisheries, and 24 % in aquaculture. Although minimal, Brunei Darussalam and Singapore also reported their respective number of fishers with 2,818 fishers and 652 fishers, respectively (Figure 10 and Table 14). However, 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 2023

Table 14. Number of fishers by working status of Southeast Asian countries in 2023

In 2023, only three countries reported the production from aquaculture of ornamental fishes, namely: Indonesia, Malaysia, and Myanmar. Indonesia reported the highest production (1.1 billion pcs) that comprised of common carp (Cyprinus carpio), goldfish (Carassius auratus), Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens), molly (Poecilia sphenops), and neo tetra (Paracheirodon innesi). Myanmar had the second highest production (730 million pcs) including Danio choprae, emeral dwarf rasbora (Microrasbora erythromicro), Asian barbs nei (Puntius spp.), golden zebra loach (Botia histrionica), Danio kyathit, and Garra flavatra. Malaysia ranked third (242 million pcs) and its production included group of cyprinids, callichthyids, poecilids, characins, anabantids, and cichilds. In 2023, Brunei Darussalam reported that no production of ornamental fishes was recorded from registered ornamental fish producers. Only one producer was registered under the Department of Fisheries in Brunei Darussalam.

In terms of value, Indonesia reported the highest value (US$ 292 million) from Asian bonytongue (Scleropages formosus) at US$ 6.3/pc, silver arowana (Osteoglossum bicirrhosum) at US$ 2.6/pc, giant featherback (Chitala lopis) at US$ 1.3/pc, common carp (Cyprinus carpio) at US$ 0.4/pc, and humphead cichlid (Cyphotilapia frontosa) at US$ 0.3/pc. Myanmar reported the second highest value (US$ 102 million) which was obtained from fire and ice snakehead (Channa pyrophthalmus) at US$ 1.6/pc, Garra flavatra at US$ 0.3/pc, galaxy rasbora (Danio margaritatus) at US$ 0.2/pc, Danio kyathit at US$ 0.1/pc, and Yunnanilius brevis at US$ 0.1/pc. Malaysia reported the third highest value (US$ 81 million) obtained from Osteoglossids at US$ 11.3/pc, Cichlids at US$ 1.13/pc, Cypinids at US$ 0.3/pc, Loricariidae at US$ 0.2/pc, and Characins at US$ 0.2/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 subsector 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 six countries, i.e. Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, and Viet Nam provided the relevant information. Brunei Darussalam started to provide the information annually from 2009 to 2023 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 2017–2023. Indonesia started to provide the data in 2010 until 2014 but not in 2015 until 2017 and provided the data again in 2020–2023. Malaysia started providing the data every year from 2008 to 2023 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 subsector 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 seven Southeast Asian countries, i.e. Brunei Darussalam, 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 2023, the producer price of certain commercially important species including inland fish species was US$ 2.5/kg for common carp (Cyprinus carpio) in Indonesia while it was US$ 1.2/kg in Myanmar. For Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), the producer price was US$ 1.9/kg in Indonesia and US$ 1.0/kg in Myanmar.

For torpedo-shaped catfishes nei (Clarias spp.), it was US$ 2.1/kg in Thailand and US$ 1.6/kg in Indonesia. For river eel nei (Anguilla spp.) it was US$ 4.4/kg in Indonesia compared to US$ 1.3/kg in Malaysia. The producer price of Indonesian snakehead (Channa micropeltes) was much higher at US$ 2.9 in Indonesia compared to US$ 1.8/kg in Thailand. For giant river prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii), the producer price in Malaysia was higher at US$ 11.5/kg compared to US$ 6.9/kg in Indonesia.

For marine fish species, the producer price of barramundi or giant sea perch (Lates calcarifer) was US$ 7.6/kg in Singapore, US$ 5.5/kg in Brunei Darussalam, and US$ 2.8/kg in Indonesia. Milkfish (Chanos chanos) was US$ 2.9/kg in Philippines and US$ 1.7/kg in Indonesia. For sea catfishes nei (Arius spp.) was US$ 2.6/kg in Singapore and US$ 1.3/kg in Malaysia. Redbelly yellowtail fusilier (Caesio cuning) cost US$ 5.6/kg in Brunei Darussalam and US$ 2.0/kg in Malaysia. Grouper nei (Epinephelus spp.) cost US$ 13.6/kg in Singapore and US$ 5.4/kg in Thailand. For threadfin breams nei (Nemipterus spp.), the producer price in Singapore was US$ 7.6/kg and US$ 1.5/kg in Indonesia and Myanmar. Threadfins and tasselfishes nei (Polynemidae) were high at US$ 15.9/kg in Singapore while it was US$ 3.5/kg in Indonesia.

The producer price of yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) was highest at US$ 2.3/kg in Malaysia while the lowest was at US$ 1.7/kg in Thailand and Brunei Darussalam. Albacore (Thunnus alalunga) was priced at US$ 2.67kg in Malaysia and compared to US$ 1.9/kg in Indonesia. For wahoo (Acanthocybium solandri), the price was US$ 5.9/kg in Malaysia and US$ 1.5/kg in Indonesia. Narrow-barred Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus commerson) was US$ 5.0/kg and US$ 3.2/kg in Indonesia. Seerfishes nei (Scomberomorus spp.) were high at US$ 9.1/kg in Singapore. Scads nei (Decapterus spp.) was priced at US$ 3.8/kg in Singapore and compared to US$ 0.9 /kg in Brunei Darussalam. For yellowtail scad (Atule mate), the producer price was US$ 4.3 /kg in Brunei Darussalam while the price was US$ 2.7/kg in Malaysia. For bigeye scad (Selar crumenophthalmus) was highest at US$ 3.2/kg in Philippines while the lowest was US$ 0.8/kg in Myanmar. Chinese silver pomfret (Pampus chinensis) was high at US$ 7.8/kg in Malaysia.

For Indo-Pacific swamp crab (Scylla serrata), the highest producer price was reported by Singapore at US$ 19.0 /kg while the lowest was US$ 3.2 /kg in Indonesia. For blue swimming crab (Portunus pelagicus), the producer price in Thailand was US$ 6.1/kg while the lowest was US$ 3.0/kg in Indonesia. For the giant tiger prawn (Penaeus monodon), the producer price in Brunei Darussalam was quite high at US$ 14.0/kg compared to US$ 4.7/kg in Indonesia; while the green tiger prawn (Penaeus semisulcatus) was US$ 11.1/kg in Brunei Darussalam and the lowest was at US$ 8.3/kg in Thailand. The tropical spiny lobsters nei (Panulirus spp.) in Indonesia and Malaysia were high at US$ 15.8/kg and US$ 16.9/kg, respectively. For common squids nei (Loligo spp.), the price was US$ 7.2/kg in Singapore compared to US$ 1.7/kg in Brunei Darussalam, while Natantia decapods nei was quite high at US$ 9.8 /kg in Singapore. Sea cucumber nei (Holothuroidea) were highest at US$ 8.6/kg in Indonesia.

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.