"Almost two-thirds of sharks and rays living on world’s coral reefs at risk, with 14 of 134 species reviewed critically endangered".

"Almost two-thirds of sharks and rays that live around the world’s coral reefs are threatened with extinction with potentially dire knock-on effects for ecosystems and coastal communities, according to new research.

Overfishing was the main cause of the declines over the past half a century, with larger sharks and rays being particularly hard hit.

“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.

“This is not just a few species,” he said. “This is a broad extinction crisis.”"

Graham Readfearn reports for the Guardian January 17, 2023. [2]