Study: Sharks at risk of extinction

Halifax, Nova Scotia -- A Canadian study has found one of the Earth's fiercest ocean predators -- sharks -- are vulnerable to extinction and are disappearing from the world's seas.

The study sponsored by the World Conservation Union found the numbers of many large shark species have declined by more than half.

"As a result of high and mostly unrestricted fishing pressure, many sharks are now considered to be at risk of extinction," said Julia Baum, a member of the conservation organization's Shark Specialist Group. She said the scalloped hammerhead shark will be listed on the organization's 2008 Red List as globally endangered due to overfishing.

Research at Dalhousie University in Canada conducted by Baum and the late Ransom Myers demonstrated the magnitude of shark declines in the northwest Atlantic Ocean. All species the team looked at had declined by more than 50 percent since the early 1970s. And for many large coastal shark species, the declines were much greater: tiger, scalloped hammerhead, bull and dusky shark populations have all plummeted by more than 95 percent, the researchers said.

The findings were presented in Boston during the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.