‘Extinction crisis’ of sharks and rays to have devastating effect on other species, study finds

Almost two-thirds of sharks and rays living on world’s coral reefs at risk, with 14 of 134 species reviewed critically endangered. “These sharks and rays have evolved over 450m years and survived six mass extinctions but they can’t deal with this fishing pressure,” said Prof Colin Simpfendorfer, a global expert on sharks and rays and one of the study’s main authors from Australia’s James Cook University.