Capture fisheries production in Italy (1960–2023): descriptive analysis of a time series

This study presents a descriptive analysis of capture fisheries production in Italy during the period1960–2023, using official data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) disseminatedthrough the World Bank Open Data platform. The time series includes 64 annual observationsexpressed in metric tons. The analysis relies exclusively on descriptive tools, including year-to-yearvariations, a fixed-base index (1960 = 100), drawdown relative to the historical maximum, and thecompound annual growth rate (CAGR).The results show an initial phase of production growth up to the historical maximum reached in1984 (484,031 metric tons), followed by a prolonged decline until the end of the series. The fixedbaseindex reaches its maximum value of 226.22 in 1984 and declines to 59.97 in 2023, indicating areduction of approximately 40% relative to the initial level. The maximum drawdown relative to thehistorical peak reaches −73.49%. Year-to-year variations reveal substantial variability, with valuesranging between −23.91% and +39.76%. The compound annual growth rate equals +3.46% per yearfor the period 1960–1984 and −3.34% per year for the period 1984–2023. These results provide aquantitative characterization of the long-term dynamics of capture fisheries production in Italy.