This database contains statistics on the total number of people employed annually in commercial and subsistence fishing, by country, by occupational category, by gender and according to the time spent in fishing.
Data on employment in fishing and fish-farming has been collected annually and regularly since 1970. In 1990 the questionnaire for reporting employment in fishing was modified so as to bring it in line with the sub-divisions of the ILO International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-88), which also provide for reporting employment in aquaculture, and to collect employment statistics by gender, as recommended by the United Nations-Statistical Commission. The following data set description refers to data collected from 1990.
At present the database shows annual figures for the period from 1990 organized by:
about 245 countries;
3 working time categories (full-time, part-time, occasional);
4 occupational categories (Aquatic-life Cultivation, Inland Waters Fishing, Marine Coastal Waters Fishing, Marine Deep-sea Waters Fishing) contained in the ILO International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-88); and
gender (male, female);
Data cover the number of commercial and subsistence fishers (i.e. all personnel on fishing craft and those helping in the landing operation on shore) operating in freshwater, brackishwater and marine areas for catching and landing all aquatic animals and plants (except whales).
Fishers operating in domestic fishing craft landing in foreign ports, in fish farming and shellfish-culture, are also included.
The statistics also cover fishers employed on fish factory ships, motherships to fishing expeditions and auxiliary vessels such as fish carriers and fish transport craft.
Data is reported yearly.