75 per cent of shark species world wide endangered

The number of sharks and rays worldwide has fallen by 71 per cent in the last 50 years and according to Australian and international research more than three-quarters of species are now threatened with extinction. The researchers say that the decline is related to significant overfishing of the shark and ray populations, and governments should implement strict science-based catch limits to help promote species recovery. Nathan Rarere spoke with two of the lead authors of this research, Nathan Pacoureau and Nicholas Dulvy and began by asking Nicholas why there was such a decline.