Humans now kill 80 million sharks per year, 25 million of which are threatened species

A pile of 7 dead sharks lay together on a dirty tiled floor.

An estimated 80 million sharks are dying in fisheries each year despite global regulations aimed at protecting them from finning, scientists have discovered. 

In a study published Jan. 11 in the journal Science, researchers used data from 2012 to 2019 — when legislation to protect sharks from finning increased tenfold — and found that annual shark mortality rose from 76 million in 2012 to over 80 million in 2017. Of those shark deaths, 25 million, or over 30%, represented threatened species.