Young Blonde Girl Posing With The Large Ship Model

The size of the world's fishing fleet is more difficult to estimate. The largest of these are counted as commercial vessels, but the smallest are legion. Fishing vessels can be found in most seaside villages in the world. As of 2004, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimated 4 million fishing vessels were operating worldwide. The same study estimated that the world's 29 million fishermen caught 85,800,000 tonnes (84,400,000 long tons; 94,600,000 short tons) of fish and shellfish that year.
Types of ships
Ships are difficult to classify, mainly because there are so many criteria to base classification on. One classification is based on propulsion; with ships categorised as a sailing ship, a steamship, or a motorship. Sailing ships are propelled solely by means of sails. Steamships are propelled by steam engines. Motorships use internal combustion engines; they include ships propelled by a combination of sail and internal combustion.