One Trillion Fish

Abstract

Wild-caught fish number approximately 0.97–2.74 trillion annually. This figure dwarfs the roughly 60 billion land animals slaughtered for food each year and highlights the scale of fish suffering. Given the often primitive methods of slaughter used in commercial fishing, promoting humane killing methods for both wild-caught and farmed fish may offer substantial welfare improvements. While the one trillion figure excludes marine invertebrates and farmed fish, it primarily reflects smaller fish like anchovies and sardines. Compared to total ocean fish biomass estimates, annual catches represent a significant portion of the total population. The sheer number of fish caught annually suggests that improving fish welfare deserves greater attention from animal advocates. – AI-generated abstract.