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  • Glossary item | Last updated: 17 Feb 2025

Fish catch (or simply catch)

Bioeconomy

Refers to catches of fishery products including fish, molluscs, crustaceans and other aquatic animals, residues and aquatic plants that are taken: 

  • for all purposes (commercial, industrial, recreational and subsistence);
  • by all types and classes of fishing units (including fishermen, vessels, gear, etc.);
  • that are - operating in inland, fresh and brackish water areas, and in inshore, offshore and high-seas fishing areas. 

Production from aquaculture is excluded. Catch is normally expressed in live weight and derived by the application of conversion factors to the actual landed or product weight. As such, the catch statistics exclude quantities of fishery products which are caught but which, for a variety of reasons, are not landed.

Eurostat b, Glossary, accessed 11 December 2023

Source category: EC Technical Documents