PREPARATION OF THIS DOCUMENT -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- ABSTRACT -- CONTENTS -- 1. INTRODUCTION -- 2. MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GFCM MARINE AREA -- 2.1 The Mediterranean -- 2.2 The Black Sea -- 3. BIODIVERSITY OF ELASMOBRANCHS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN AND BLACK SEA -- 3.1 Status of some problematic elasmobranchs species -- 3.2 Mediterranean shark endemic species -- 3.3 Elasmobranchs alien species in the Mediterranean -- 3.4 Spatial distribution of elasmobranchs in the GFCM area -- 3.5 Critical habitats of elasmobranchs in the GFCM area -- 3.6 Status of the Mediterranean elasmobranchs species in the IUCN Red List -- 4. ELASMOBRANCHS FISHERIES IN THE GFCM AREA -- 4.1 FAO statistics of elasmobranchs -- 4.2 Fishing gears for elasmobranchs -- 4.3 Elasmobranchs bycatch -- 5. DYNAMIC POPULATIONS AND STOCK ASSESSMENT OF ELASMOBRANCHS/ABUNDANCE INDICES -- 5.1 Landings structure of some common elasmobranchs in the Mediterranean -- 5.2 Landings of common elasmobranchs in the Black Sea -- 5.3 Stock assessment of selected species of elasmobranchs in the GFCM area -- 6. AVAILABLE BIOLOGIC PARAMETERS ON ELASMOBRANCHS IN THE GFCM AREA -- 6.1 Available data on the reproductive biology of elasmobranchs -- 6.2 Available data on age and growth of elasmobranchs -- 6.3 Available data on food and feeding habits of elasmobranchs in the GFCM area -- 7. CONSERVATION MEASURES FOR ELASMOBRANCHS -- 7.1 Global instruments -- 7.2 Regional protection instruments -- 7.3 Other initiatives for conservation -- 7.4 National species protection status -- 7.5 Habitat protection/MPAs to support elasmobranchs conservation -- 7.6 Regulation of shark finning -- 8. GENERAL CONCLUSION -- 9. REFERENCES -- 9.1 References on elasmobranchs related to GFCM area (Appendix 1) -- 9.2 Other references cited in the publication.

Appendix I - Bibliographic references on elasmobranchs in the Mediterranean and Black Sea -- Appendix II- Distribution of papers on elasmobranchs by geographic areas, species or group of species and topics (numbers are those of references in appendix 1) -- Appendix III - List of elasmobranchs of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea -- Appendix IV- The regional IUCN Red List status of all assessed Mediterranean elasmobranchspecies (Gibson et al., 2007) -- Appendix V - Colour plates of sharks and rays.