Researchers from the tropical campus of James Cook University will tally the numbers for a shark and sting-ray population report card.

Marine scientists from JCU have launched the survey to maintain a running count of threatened populations and work out which are in most need of attention.

Humans are of course the greatest threat, with commercial fishing damage cutting numbers of some rare species down to the bone.

The two-year research project has been funded by the Australian Government’s Fisheries Research and Development Corporation.

JCU’s Professor Colin Simfendorfer says that the scientific report card shows the dire state for some sharks and rays, and will help government departments make informed choices on their protection.

“We'll have a report card actually laying out the status of Australia's sharks and rays,” Prof Simfendorfer said.

“We can actually say these are the species that we're doing a great job with, here's some species that we need to improve, here's some species where we don't really have any information and we really need to start collecting information.”