The given table illustrates the absolute changes in the amount of sea and ocean fish captured during 1989-1991 and 1999-2001, measured in thousand metric tons.
In general, the majority of the surveyed regions saw net increases in the captures of sea and ocean fish, except for Europe, North America, and Central America and Caribbean, whose figures experienced the opposite trend. Additionally, while the amount of sea and ocean fish captured in Asia (without Middle East) consistently ranked the highest throughout the period, Oceania remained the lowest in the same aspect.
Looking first at Asia (excluding Middle East), it is clear that the figure for this region exhibited the second most remarkable changes, with a pronounced rise from 25,427 in 1989-1991 to 28,102 by 1999-2001. Similarly, the amount of sea and ocean fish captured in South America increased modestly from its baseline at 14,382 to 15,235 by the end of the period. Oceania, and Middle East and North America started with 602 and 1622 thousand metric tons of captured fish, respectively. Subsequently, there was a marginal rise in the latter’s figure to 2343 by 1999-2001, compared to the former’s slow growth to 944 in the same regard, bottoming the chart.
In stark contrast, the figure for Europe experienced the most drastic changes throughout the period, characterized by a collapse from 18,032 in 1989-1991 to 14,315 by 1999-2001. North America, however, witnessed a slower decline in the capture of sea and ocean fish, falling from 5069 to 3995 by the end of the period. Central America and Caribbean closely resembled this pattern; the figure for this region began with 1445, before decreasing marginally to 1377 over the next 10 years.