The table compares the world’s large-scale and small-scale sea fishing industries based on the number of employees, annual catch, annual cost per capita and fuel consumption.
Looking at the illustration, it is immediately evident that small-scale fishing recorded the highest figure in the number of employees, whereas the opposite was true for annual catch, cost per worker and fuel consumption, which were higher in large-scale fishing.
In the first category, the number of employees, small-scale fishing boats dominated the chart at 120 million, which was far higher than the figure for industrial ships, at 500,000. Regarding annual catch, large-scale fishing recorded a higher total output, reaching 51 million tonnes, compared with only 24 million tonnes in the small-scale sector, all of which were used for food.
In terms of annual cost per capita, employees working on industrial ships earned significantly more, with salaries ranging from £25,000 to £350,000, while small-scale fishermen received only £200 to £3,000 per year. As for fuel consumption, each large-scale vessel consumed around 65,000 gallons annually, which was substantially higher than the 8,500 gallons used by a small-scale fishing boat.p