Hacker News Reader

Shellfish aren't a massive industry so no one with political power cares to obstruct these laws.

Cattle and sheep are usually treated well because cortisol reduces weight gain. Pigs not so much...

What metrics are you basing that first statement on?

Not the person you're replying to, but according to this site here [0], crustaceans make up $262M or 0.64% of the agricultural export for the UK. Not small, but certainly smaller than other agriculture sectors.

[0] https://atlas.cid.harvard.edu/explore?country=81&product=und...

I don't know if using exports is anywhere near the industry totals.

According to NOAA, in regards to US totals[1]:

"Overall, the highest value U.S. commercial species were salmon ($688 million), crabs ($610 million), lobsters ($594 million), shrimp ($531 million), scallops ($512 million), and Alaska pollock ($413 million)."

[1]https://www.noaa.gov/media-release/american-seafood-industry...

Most trawlers are owned by small businesses. They have very little lobbying power compared to the massive multinational agricultural conglomerates that control pork and poultry. JBS in particular is enormous, it owns almost a third of global pork processing through it's subsidiaries.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com