The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed 64 species on their first ever red list for oceanic sharks. These include hammerheads, giant devil rays and porbeagles. Overfishing is getting the blame, and it is particularly problematic for sharks which produce few young and take many years to mature.
Scalloped hammerheads have been categorised as globally endangered. In some parts of the world their numbers have declined by 99% over the last 30 years.
Conservationists are calling for limits to catches and enforcement of strict bans on finning, where a shark’s fins are chopped off before the shark is thrown back to die.
There is a lot more information in an article on the Guardian’s website.
