The IUCN SSG has been awarded funding from the SOS Foundation for a project entitled: EDGE Sharks - identifying and conserving the world's most Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered sharks. We will work in collaboration with the Zoological Society of London and their EDGE of Existence program, Arne Mooers at Simon Fraser University and Neil Aschliman and Gavin Naylor at Florida State University.

The project aims to identify the world's 100 most Evolutionarily Distinctive and Globally Endangered sharks, before creating a shortlist of 10 for priority conservation action.

Scientists are increasingly recognising the importance of conserving phylogenetic diversity and the EDGE program uses a novel index based on each species' contribution to phylogenetic diversity combined with its extinction risk to prioritise species for action.

The EDGE Sharks program will focus on raising awareness of the pressures facing sharks in general, and specifically the EDGE list species, before initiating conservation projects that address these pressures.