Researchers are calling for increased monitoring to protect threatened species, alongside more public education and incentives for fishers to use equipment that is less threatening to shark species.

Illegal fishing and the rising market for shark meat are putting over 80 species of sharks and rays in the Mediterranean Sea at serious risk.

New research by the University of Plymouth has found more than 200 measures to protect sharks and rays across the 22 coastal states of the Mediterranean region. However, while elasmobranchs have made it onto many policy agendas,

Overfishing, illegal fishing and increasing marketing of shark meat pose significant threats to the more than 80 species of sharks and rays that inhabit the Mediterranean Sea, according to a study published in the journal Biological Conservation.