The Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF), through the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), has published the first Annual Social Report on the EU fisheries, aquaculture and seafood processing sectors.
The report, known as ASOR, is intended to complement the long-established Annual Economic Report by adding a more systematic view of the social dimension of the Common Fisheries Policy. It brings together data on employment, gender, age, education, nationality, employment status and working conditions across the seafood sector.
Social employment snapshot of the EU seafood sector
Key figures from the first STECF Annual Social Report covering fisheries, aquaculture and seafood processing.
| Sector | Employment | Share | What the report shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fisheries | 119,989 people | 40% | The most developed section of the report, with deeper analysis of employment, ageing, gender and generational renewal. |
| Aquaculture | 67,962 people | 23% | A strategic food-production sector, but still covered mainly through descriptive social data in this first edition. |
| Seafood processing | 110,879 people | 37% | A major source of employment across the EU, but also requiring stronger social analysis in future reports. |
| Total | 298,831 jobs | 100% | The report marks a first step towards integrating the social dimension into EU fisheries and aquaculture policy. |
Source: STECF / Joint Research Centre, Annual Social Report on EU fisheries, aquaculture and seafood processing.
According to the report, the EU fisheries, aquaculture and processing industry accounts for almost 300,000 jobs. Of these, aquaculture represents around 23% of employment, with sectoral estimates placing the workforce at approximately 67,962 people.
However, the report also highlights important data limitations. In this first edition, the social analysis of aquaculture and processing remains mainly descriptive, while the fisheries section is analysed in greater depth. STECF notes that future editions are expected to expand the analytical scope and integrate stronger cross-sectoral perspectives.
For aquaculture, this is particularly relevant. The social data call under the Data Collection Framework reports 53,001 people employed in EU aquaculture in 2023, while aquaculture-specific estimates combining DCF, Eurostat, Member State data and expert assessments place employment at 67,962 people. This difference illustrates the difficulty of building a fully comparable social picture of the sector.
The report also underlines the diversity of EU aquaculture. The sector produced 1.2 million tonnes of seafood in 2022, with a value of EUR 4.8 billion. Shellfish dominate production by volume, while marine finfish account for the largest share of production value. Spain, France, Greece and Italy together represent 64% of EU aquaculture production volume.
The publication marks an important step in bringing social sustainability into the European debate on fisheries and aquaculture. It also shows that better data will be needed to understand employment structures, skills, gender participation, generational renewal and working conditions across different production systems.
The main message is clear: if the EU wants to develop aquaculture as part of a more resilient food system, it will also need to understand the people, skills and labour conditions behind that growth.
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