The West Indian Ocean is an important area of marine fishing, and the analysis of the species composition and catch of fishing countries and regions provides the basis for evaluating the utilization status of fishery resources, and also an important support for ensuring the sustainable development and scientific management of fishery resources. Based on the catch data of the Western Indian Ocean from 1950 to 2019 provided by FAO, the species and catch composition of the main fishing parties in the past 70 years were analyzed by using dominance analysis, and the contribution rates of main fishing parties and species to total catch were compared under different time series. The results showed that the total catch in the Western Indian Ocean was on the rise, which could be divided into three periods:1950-1982, 1983-2005 and 2006-2019. The results showed that there was no significant difference among the first 10 species and fishing parties in the cumulative catch of each stage. The cumulative catch of Sardinella longiceps was the highest, and the contribution rate of skipjack and Yellowfin tuna to total catch was relatively high. India, Pakistan and Iran had the highest amount of catch in all stages in the coastal states and regions, while Spain, France, Japan and Taiwan Province were the non-coastal countries and regions with the highest catch, which contributed to more than 10% to the total catch in the Western Indian Ocean at each stage. The research suggests that based on the current status and potential of fishery resources exploitation in the Western Indian Ocean, the major fishing countries and regions should reduce their fishing effort and conserve the over-exploited economic species, and increase the exploitation of short life cycle species with rich resources, in order to ensure the sustainable use of fishery resources in the Western Indian Ocean.