273 million sharks die a year due to wrong fishing tools Koror — Longline fishing vessels aim for tuna but they deploy miles of baited hooks that accidentally clinch sharks, among other unintended targets. A 2013 study by the Social Development Direct estimated that around 100 million sharks died in 2000 as a result of fishing, and 97 million in 2010. Making estimates for such huge areas of ocean is difficult so the study found shark deaths ranged between a possible low of 63