More or Less: Behind the Stats Do 11,000 sharks die every hour?
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Sep 6, 2025 Sharks have a far more to fear from us than we do from them. The staggering statistic of 11,000 sharks dying every hour due to industrial fishing opens the discussion about their shocking mortality rates. Challenges in data collection and underreporting complicate our understanding of these figures. Advanced techniques like machine learning are helping to improve estimates. Meanwhile, conservation efforts, though well-intentioned, can sometimes backfire, exacerbating the decline in shark populations.
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Humans Threaten Sharks More Than Movies Do
- Sharks face far greater risk from human fishing than from people, reversing their fearsome cinematic image.
- Industrial fishing kills massive numbers via nets and lines, often as bycatch rather than targeted hunting.
100 Million Sharks A Year Is The Central Estimate
- Dr Boris Worm confirms a global estimate of roughly 100 million shark deaths per year.
- He translates this to about 11,000 sharks killed every hour as a succinct summary of the scale.
Two-Part Method: Coastal Vs. Open Ocean
- Boris Worm split analyses between coastal and high-seas fisheries to handle different data quality.
- He used country-by-country reconstructions and machine learning extrapolations to fill huge gaps in reporting.