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FAO Fishing Areas

For statistical purposes, 27 major fishing areas have been internationally established to date.
These comprise:

  • 8 major inland fishing areas covering the inland waters of the continents,
  • 19 major marine fishing areas covering the waters of the Atlantic, Indian, Pacific and Southern Oceans, with their adjacent seas.

The major fishing areas, inland and marine, are listed below by two-digit codes and their names. To access maps and description of boundaries of each fishing area click on the relevant item in the list below or in the map showing the 19 major marine fishing areas.

Inland waters

01 Africa – Inland waters
02 America, North – Inland waters
03 America, South – Inland waters
04 Asia – Inland waters
05 Europe – Inland waters
06 Oceania – Inland waters
07 Former USSR area – Inland waters *
08 Antarctica – Inland waters

The fishing area 07 (“Former USSR area – Inland waters”) referred to the area that was formerly the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Starting with the data for 1988, information for each new independent Republic is shown separately. The new independent Republics are: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan (statistics assigned to the fishing area “Asia – Inland waters”) and Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Republic of Moldova, Russian Federation, Ukraine (statistics assigned to the fishing area “Europe – Inland waters”).

Marine Areas

18 Arctic Sea
21 Atlantic, Northwest
27 Atlantic, Northeast
31 Atlantic, Western Central
34 Atlantic, Eastern Central 
37 Mediterranean and Black Sea
41 Atlantic, Southwest 
47 Atlantic, Southeast 
48 Atlantic, Antarctic
51 Indian Ocean, Western 
57 Indian Ocean, Eastern 
58 Indian Ocean, Antarctic and Southern
61 Pacific, Northwest 
67 Pacific, Northeast 
71 Pacific, Western Central 
77 Pacific, Eastern Central
81 Pacific, Southwest
87 Pacific, Southeast 
88 Pacific, Antarctic

Webbureau ITTP