🔗 Share this article

The iconic great white in the Mediterranean Sea are on the verge of vanishing, with unlawful fishing practices being a key factor to their worrying decrease.

This conclusion is based on studies conducted by experts, who collaborated with an ocean protection organization. They indicate that several critically endangered species – like the great white shark – are being sold in ports across North Africa.

These sharks are one of more than 20 Mediterranean shark species safeguarded by global treaties, which renders it unlawful to catch them or to offer them for sale.

However, by monitoring fishing ports along the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, scientists discovered that no fewer than 40 great white sharks have been caught and killed there in 2025 alone.

Social media clips showing endangered sharks being landed at North African ports has been authenticated.

A particular clip showed a large great white being dragged onto land from a vessel in Algeria. Another, recorded in Tunisia, shows remains and fins of what appears to be a short-finned mako shark, which is also a threatened and protected species.

Final Refuge

The principal scientist, clarified that many shark species – particularly great whites – had plummeted in the Mediterranean in the past years.

"No other stretch of water is fished like the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The effects of large-scale fishing has been growing... and it's possible that they will go extinct in the coming years."

The Mediterranean white shark population is now listed as Critically Endangered by the global conservation union.

In their most recent effort to track and analyze the predators, the team worked in the Strait of Sicily – an area considered a "key remaining habitat" in the Mediterranean for several threatened shark species.

A primary objective of their mission was to fit a satellite tracking tag onto a great white – something that has never been done in the Mediterranean Sea.

To attempt this, the researchers used a large amount of chum – including frozen mackerel and tuna scraps and a substantial volume of fish oil to create a "fat slick" that many sharks can smell from hundreds of metres away.

After two weeks of work – baiting the ocean, sampling for DNA to look for genetic material and using underwater cameras – the researchers failed to encounter any animals to tag.

They captured only a fleeting sighting of one blue shark species on their submarine cameras.

"It's disheartening," the lead researcher said. "It just shows how damaged this marine environment is."

While the team was searching for remaining sharks, they also were informed that a young great white shark had been caught and killed in a regional fishery – just 20 nautical miles from where they were working.

It is not clear whether that specimen was caught by accident in gear, or if it was deliberately caught.

The team, however, believes that over forty great white sharks have been caught around that coast. "This is a lot for a critically endangered population," the researcher emphasized.

Sharks for Sale

The scientists, along with regional contacts, are observing various harbors in the region. Findings shows that sharks under protection are captured, brought to port, and sold in countries including the region.

The rules that protect sharks are complex. Currently, numerous species have international legal protection – including mako, angel, threshers and hammerheads.

An international agreement states that those species cannot be "kept on boats, transferred, landed, stored, or sold".

The agreement mandates "they must be released alive [where] possible". Those rules do not address unintentional catch and enforcement is variable from nation to nation.

A marine advocate noted that his own research found multiple white sharks on sale. But, he said, there was a unexpected hopeful sign in the fact that white sharks were being found in markets.

"It shows that there is life remaining," he said. "And if we can preserve this, there is a chance of recovery."

Possible Solutions

In economically challenged regions in North Africa, fishing communities who catch sharks might face the choice of whether to earn a livelihood, or throw back an endangered shark to the ocean.

"Why would they throw sharks back into the sea when they must feed their households?" asked a scientist. "If you assist and guide them in more responsible fishing, they will not catch these sharks."

An advocate added that if countries around the Mediterranean collaborated, "there is hope."

"But," he added, "we've got to act very quickly."