← on nowLGR-013 · v0.1.0 · model · estimate How many wild-caught fish are killed every second, every day, every year?
wild-caught fish · many species
killed by humans
2 trillion
a year
63,376
a second
5.5 billion
a day
born
?
no ledger. nobody counts the ocean’s births, only the taking.
method fishcount.org.uk estimate: FAO capture tonnage divided by species mean weights.
- about a tenth of what is caught is thrown back dead.source: FAO discards estimates
- a third of assessed stocks are fished past what they can replace.source: FAO SOFIA
- about 100,000 fishers die at sea every year. it is the deadliest job on earth, and some of the crews are not there by choice.source: FISH Safety Foundation 2022; ILO; EJF
- the largest fishery on earth is one small fish, the peruvian anchoveta, and almost none of it is eaten by people. it is ground into meal for salmon, pigs and chickens.source: FAO; IFFO
live. this is the channel itself. embed it anywhere:
<iframe src="https://thetoll.earth/?channel=wild-caught%20fish" width="100%" height="520" style="border:1px solid #D9DDDB" title="the toll · wild-caught fish"></iframe>
or the whole broadcast, every channel, the same for everyone:
<iframe src="https://thetoll.earth/?embed=1" width="100%" height="520" style="border:1px solid #D9DDDB" title="the toll · on now, everywhere"></iframe>
how this number is built
- method
- fishcount.org.uk estimate: FAO capture tonnage divided by species mean weights.
- range
- 1.1–2.2 trillion/yr
- confidence
- estimate
- weakness
- the widest range on the site. excludes illegal, unreported and unregulated catch, which is substantial. the site uses ~2.0 trillion; the low end halves the number.
- becomes a feed
- Global Fishing Watch: every industrial vessel fishing right now, by name and flag
- dispute
- dispute LGR-013 · corrections are credited
- data
- channels.json (sign-in) · full entry · CC BY 4.0