Sharks, rays, and chimaeras (Class Chondrichthyes; hereafter referred to as "sharks") are the oldest existing jawed vertebrates and have the highest functional variety of any vertebrate. They have an impact on energy transmission vertically through trophic levels and occasionally trophic cycles through consumption purposes and predatory risk. They link horizontally and temporally across habitats and ecosystems via migrations and movements, incorporating energy fluxes at vast geographical scales and across time. This connectedness stems from ontogenetic increase in size and geographical movements, which supports their modest reproduction rates when compared to certain other plundered ocean fishes. Sharks are also biologically and based on demographic varied, and they are caught in a wide range of fisheries for a number of goods (e.g. meat, fins, teeth, and gills).

As a result, a variety of fisheries management approaches are often preferred to "silver bullet" and "one-size-fits-all" conservation initiatives. Some species with exceptionally low yearly reproductive output might quickly become endangered, necessitating severe restrictions to avoid extinction. Other, more abundant species can endure long-term fishing provided catches are subject to appropriate catch restrictions over the species' range. Based on the IUCN Red List status, we identify 6 endangered species in specific need of additional or greater safeguards, as well as 514 species in need of improved fisheries management. We identify priority nations for such interventions, taking into account the vast differences in fishing demands and conservation capabilities. We hope that this research contributes to efforts to guarantee that these group of ecologically significant and evolutionarily different species can continue to serve both ocean life and anthropogenic impacts in the future.

Sharks are ecologically one of the most diverse predatory animals, with numerous individuals and species found at or close to the top of aquatic ecological pyramids. They connect via food webs and across environments and ecosystems, accumulating, integrating, and transmitting energy while dispersing predation risk vertically, horizontally, and through time. Given the broad geographical and temporal scales across which these predators exercise their effect, detecting sharks' vertical integration function in trophic cycles is challenging. 

Nevertheless, it is becoming increasingly obvious that shark population declines can result in opportunistic release and a rise in smaller meso-predatory organisms 8, 9. There is compelling evidence for at least one trophic cascade in Shark Bay, Australia, where the annual presence of the apex predator — the tiger shark — alters the activity of its dugong and green turtle prey to eating in less dangerous but less productive territory. The sight of enormous shark assemblages led to speculation that reversed pyramids may constitute the underexploited baseline ecological state, although shark population appears to have been overstated in this case.

Nonetheless, sharks can be abundant in remote areas due to temporal and spatial subsidizing from eating on spawning assemblages (of fish from neighboring pyramids) and also by laterally foraging expeditions to extract energy from nearby pyramids 7, 13. It is becoming obvious that some individual sharks move huge distances seasonally, transiting and predating in vastly different and dissimilar environments.

In 2011, the stated value of worldwide shark fisheries was close to US $1 billion, consisting of US $438.6 million for 17,154 tonnes of shipped fins and US $379.8 million in total world imports of 121,641 tonnes of shark flesh. This amount excludes the value of items used domestically, which accounts for the great bulk of the approximately 2 million tonnes of product seized yearly, as well as other products.  The international shark tourist sector employs almost 600,000 people and is worth around $314 million every year. Tourism income accounts for around half of the projected value of worldwide shark fisheries, however tourism value is frequently exaggerated. Tourism concentrates on only 18 shark species, but fisherman from at least 135 nations land hundreds of types. The increased recreational value of sharks caught in catch-and-release fishing has not been accurately estimated internationally, although it is likely to be considerable. Sharks are culturally significant in many communities across the world, notably among indigenous peoples 19, 20.

Here, we outline five major problems to shark conservation before outlining our strategy for choosing different types and fisheries. Furthermore, we discuss the conservation consequences.