Twenty-six percent of sharks, rays and chimaeras are threatened with extinction and another 20 percent are in the 'near threatened' category, the Switzerland-based International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said in a statement.

In the whole northeast Atlantic region, seven percent of species are classified as 'critically endangered,' another 7 as 'endangered,' and 12 percent as 'vulnerable,' the report said.

"From angel sharks to devil rays, northeast Atlantic populations of these vulnerable species are in serious trouble, more so than in may other parts of the world," said Claudine Gibson, the report's lead-author and a former Programme Officer for the IUCN's Shark Specialist Group (SSG).

"Most sharks and rays are exceptionally vulnerable to overfishing because of their tendency to grow slowly, mature late, and produce few young," she added.

Her colleague Sonja Fordham, deputy chair of the SSG, told AFP that in some areas the angel shark was "already wiped out".

"Country officials should heed the dire warnings of this report and act to protect threatened sharks and rays at national, regional and international levels," Fordham said.

Many big shark species have fallen prey to booming Asian economies where shark-fin soup is prized as a must-have delicacy at weddings and other banquet occasions. The fins are often sliced off of living fish which are then discarded in the sea.

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