The first study to determine the overall state of conservation of 64 species of shark and ray-sea revealed that 32% are threatened with extinction, says IUCN.

The threat comes primarily from overfishing, according to the experts. According to them, the sharks are “highly vulnerable” to this practice because it takes many years for several species that reach maturity and there are relatively few young animals.

The FAO (UN Food and Agriculture Organization ) recognized the potential threat to the sharks for more than a decade, when it launched an action plan for the conservation of animals in 1999.

Several deep-sea sharks end up being caught by fishing nets for tuna and sword-fish. While some end up accidentally trapped in nets, they are increasingly sought to extract the meat, teeth and liver oil and, because of high demand in Asia for their fins.

The list includes two species of the IUCN shark-hammer, which often have their fins removed before being thrown back into the sea.

By the end of this year, the group specialized in sharks will publish a full report with the status of all 400 species of sharks and ray-sea among these species.

Via: BBC.