The report found that while more than one-fifth of shark species were already threatened with extinction, a lack of government control on overfishing and the problem of illegal fishing were further depleting the animal's numbers.

"The status of shark stocks continues to deteriorate," it said, adding that the predators were particularly vulnerable to overfishing because they produced few young and matured slowly.

Report co-author Glenn Sant of the wildlife group TRAFFIC said the extent of illegal and unreported fishing made it impossible to determine the total number of sharks being killed each year for their meat and fins.

"The problem is that illegal activities are always very difficult to estimate -- unless you apprehend people you don't know what's going on," he told AFP.

"We definitely know that there are many shark species that have been overfished -- and that includes in fisheries where they are managed (and intended) to be sustainable."

But he added: "There is no question that illegal activity around shark catching is threatening shark populations.

"As our knowledge gets better around the status of sharks it's an ever-worrying situation, it's not improving."

Sant, who is TRAFFIC's global marine programme leader, said the problem was compounded by a lack of regulation in most of the world.

But the overriding pressure on the animal was strong demand for shark fins, which are used to make a thick soup considered a delicacy in Asia, he said.

"The main reason for most of the shark catches around the world is the shark fin feeding into the Asian market," Sant said.

"We are not against the trade in shark fin, but what we are against is the over exploitation of shark."

Sant said the report's case study on Australia noted "enormous amounts of illegal vessels fishing in Australian waters and huge amounts of shark fin being taken".

The report's findings come ahead of a United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization meeting in Rome which will discuss how to monitor shark fisheries and the impact of illegal fishing on animal numbers.

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