Christian Kanele; snakeheads.org ; contact@snakeheads.org
This text summarizes numbers of the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) yearbooks Fishery Statistics - Catches and landings1 runs numbers about catches of several snakehead species. This is done to give an overview over the economic importance of snakeheads as food fish mainly in Asia. This puts Channa in a somehow different light which is confusing to Aquarists who would never think of their tank inhabitants to be a world number one proteine resource.
The numbers of the Fishery Statisics are mainly based on data drawn from commercial, industrial, and subsistence resources, excluding recreational purposes like game fishing. The species classification is after the FAO International Standard Statistical Classification of Aquatic Animals and Plants (ISSCAAP) which comprises 995 species. Those 995 species are arranged in fity-one groups which are themselves constituted of nine divisions. The divsion in respect to snakeheads is number 1 freshwater fishes, and the group them has the code 3 Miscellaneous freshwater fishes. The FAO statistics yearbook Part B takes this two-digit code for further detailing catching numbers, which in consequence means, that in B-13, snakehead catches are listed by countries.
Furthermore, each species item is identified by means of the FAO Aquatic Sciences and Fiesheries Information Service which consists of a FAO English name, FAO French name, FAO Spanish name, the scientific name, an taxonomic code, and finally an inter-agency 3-alpha identifier. The taxonomic code consists of digits which reflects following:
| Main Grouping | Order of sub-order | Family | Genus | Species |
In respect to snakeheads the numbers are as follows:
| Main Grouping | Order of sub-order | Family | Genus | Species | |
| Pisces | Ophiocephaliformes | Channidae | Channa | ||
| Channa spp. | 1 | 67 | 01 | 001 | xx |
| Channa striatus | 1 | 67 | 01 | 001 | 07 |
| Channa micropeltes | 1 | 67 | 01 | 001 | 09 |
The 3-digit alpha code for snakeheads are as follows:
| Channa spp. | FSN |
| Channa micropeltes | FIS |
| Channa striatus | FSS |
The amounts of Channa striata catches during the listed years 1981 and 1993 generally show a decreasing tendency (especially on the Phillipines). A reason was not to find in the yearbooks for this behaviour. The author is astonished about the number of countries. He expects other countries to be fishing this species because it is the most widespread one and a highly esteemed food fish as for example Willey already in 1907 about Sri Lanka states. A possible reason for this might be the instable or non-existing reporting resources.
| Philippines | Thailand | Total amount in metric tonnes | |
| 1981 | 8040 | 37724 | 43764 |
| 1982 | 7814 | 25795 | 33609 |
| 1983 | 25976 | 21211 | 47187 |
| 1984 | 11646 | 20394 | 32040 |
| 1985 | 12262 | 21842 | 34104 |
| 1986 | 10699 | 23542 | 34241 |
| 1987 | 7654 | 19561 | 27215 |
| 1988 | 7067 | 15800 | 22867 |
| 1989 | 7331 | 20000 | 27331 |
| 1990 | 7676 | 16801 | 24477 |
| 1991 | 7331 | 20000 | 27331 |
| 1992 | 7219 | 18700 | 25919 |
| 1993 | 9025 | 19300 | 28325 |
The yearbooks do only list one country for Channa micropeltes: Indonesia. The FAO English name for it is Indonesian Snakehead. The author is wondering himself about the name since it is generally called Giant Snakehead which again is a highly esteemed food fish and very common in Thailand and Malaysia.
| Total amount in metric tonnes | |
| 1981 | 8482 |
| 1982 | 7619 |
| 1983 | 8866 |
| 1984 | 9599 |
| 1985 | 10103 |
| 1986 | 9024 |
| 1987 | 10071 |
| 1988 | 10424 |
| 1989 | 9554 |
| 1990 | 8523 |
| 1991 | 10128 |
| 1992 | 7910 |
| 1993 | 8300 |
In respect to the FAO Channa spp. term, it comprises the african Channidae Parachanna. A further identification of the species grouped below Channa spp. can only be given for Turkmenistan. Ichthyological literature in respect to the former U.S.S.S.R. shows that Channa argus warpachowsky has been introduced to those Central Asian states as food fish. It seems to be a very adaptable species. This literature will get published here too (hopefully) soon. A further remark concerning the catches in India must be done here. There is industrial food fish breeding literature available since the 1950's showing the early interest of breeding Channa as food fish there (this will appear here too). There must have been a lack of reporting data in the FAO. Only with this in mind, one will understand the gigantic numbers.
| India | Turkmenistan | Nigeria | Hong Kong | Indonesia | Total amount in metric tonnes | |
| 1981 | 35385 | 35385 | ||||
| 1982 | 32216 | 32216 | ||||
| 1983 | 35321 | 35321 | ||||
| 1984 | 65 | 36281 | 36346 | |||
| 1985 | 200 | 35986 | 36186 | |||
| 1986 | 128 | 33879 | 34007 | |||
| 1987 | 2096 | 200 | 31999 | 34295 | ||
| 1988 | 2096 | 300 | 32163 | 34559 | ||
| 1989 | 2230 | 270 | 27923 | 30423 | ||
| 1990 | 288 | 310 | 30155 | 30465 | ||
| 1991 | 7 | 825 | 300 | 27907 | 29039 | |
| 1992 | 65273 | 7 | 2035 | 300 | 27052 | 92625 |
| 1993 | 69309 | 6 | 1873 | 800 | 27020 | 97129 |
Snakeheads.org has obtained permission to use these figures by the FAO.
1 Until now the following yearbooks are consulted: FAO Fisheries Series No. 38, 43, 44 (Rome 1992, 1994, 1995). Back
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