Article Summary:

A study by the International Union for Conservation of Nature says almost half of the species of sharks and rays in the Mediterranean and at least 12 species of bony fish are threatened with extinction due to overfishing, pollution and the loss of habitat in the next few years, Huffington Post reports. It goes on to state that commercial catches of bluefin tuna, sea bass, hake and dusky grouper are particularly threatened.

The IUCN study, which began in 2007 and included 25 marine scientists, is the first time the group has tried to assess native marine fish species in an entire sea.