The table illustrates the difference between the two types of sea fishing: large-scale fishing with industrial ships and small-scale fishing with fishing boats.
While industrial ships only have 500,000 workers, the number of fishing boats is more than half that figure for large-scale fishing. Despite the large number of employees, only 24 million tonnes of food are caught per year by fishing boats, which is 5 million tonnes less than that caught by large-scale ships. Similarly, industrial ships contribute 22 million tonnes annually for industrial processes, while no data on small-scale fishing is recorded.
Otherwise, large-scale fishing incurs high costs for employees’ annual salaries, ranging from 25,000 to 35,000 pounds. Meanwhile, workers in fishing boats are paid unremarkably; their maximum wage is just nearly one-third of the minimum wage for people working in industrial ships. A huge amount of fuel is consumed by large-scale fishing, at 65,000 gallons for each vessel, which is almost 8 times greater than the figure for small-scale fishing.
In summary, with a smaller labor force, large-scale fishing shows greater production than the small-scale method. Additionally, industrial ships cost more to operate because of employees’ salaries and fuel consumption.