• TediousLength@lemmy.ca
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    14 hours ago

    This comment sent me into a little rabbit hole.

    In the US alone, humans kill, on average, 1 cow per second (over 33 million a year). That is including calves.

    edit: In the US alone, humans kill, on average 1 shark per 10 seconds (over 3 million a year).

    • jaybone@lemmy.zip
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      16 hours ago

      I imagine the US is not killing a lot of sharks. At least not intentionally (ignoring pollution or accidents.)

      • TediousLength@lemmy.ca
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        14 hours ago

        There is a bigger market than you think. Shark meat is part of Asian, Caribbean, Latino, and Hawaiian food culture. You can find dozens of different shark products in grocery store, and that’s not including pet food. It can hide under different names like white fish or ocean fish. So I would guess from high hundreds of thousand to low millions. Dug deeper, it is estimated around 300 to 500 thousands from shark fisheries. But, 2.5 to 5 million from bycatch…

        Their is also recreational fishing. Which is responsible for 100 to 150 thousands shark killings per year.

        So that’s a comfortable 3 to 5 million a year in the US alone…

        And coincidentally, there is some scandal happening now about critically endangered shark meat sold under false labels.

        https://gbej.org/americans-unknowingly-consume-endangered-toxic-shark-meat/

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