The iconic great white in the Mediterranean basin are on the verge of vanishing, with illegal fishing being a major contributor to their rapid population drop.
This finding is based on research by scientists, who worked alongside an international conservation charity. They note that some of the most threatened species – including great white sharks – are found on sale in fish markets across Northern African nations.
These sharks are one of more than 20 Mediterranean shark species shielded by international agreements, which prohibits to fish for them or to offer them for sale.
However, by observing harbors along the coastline of North Africa, the research team discovered that a minimum of forty great white sharks have been killed there in 2025 alone.
Footage from social media showing sharks under protection being unloaded in North African ports has been authenticated.
One video showed a big shark being pulled from a boat from a trawler in Algeria. A separate video, recorded in Tunisia, shows remains and fins of what looks like a short-finned mako shark, which is also a protected and endangered species.
Last Shark Stronghold
The lead researcher, stated that many shark populations – white sharks in particular – had declined dramatically in the Mediterranean in the past years.
"No other stretch of water is exploited as heavily as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The consequences of commercial fishing has been increasing... and it's plausible that they will become extinct in the coming years."
The population of great whites in the Mediterranean is now designated as Critically Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
In their new mission to locate and research the sharks, the team worked in the Sicilian Strait – an area identified as a "key remaining habitat" in the Mediterranean for several sharks at risk.
An important goal of their project was to fit a satellite tracking tag onto a white shark – something that has never been done in the Mediterranean Sea.
To do this, the researchers used a large amount of fish bait – including frozen fish parts and hundreds of liters 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 search for shark DNA and using underwater cameras – the researchers did not manage to find any animals to tag.
They captured only a fleeting sighting of one blue shark on their underwater cameras.
"It's discouraging," the lead researcher said. "It just shows how depleted this ecosystem is."
During their search for living sharks, they also learned that a young great white shark had been captured and killed in a regional fishery – just a short distance from where they were working.
It is uncertain whether that specimen was accidentally caught in nets or lines, or if it was deliberately caught.
The team, however, estimates that in excess of 40 great white sharks have been taken along that coastline. "This is a lot for a critically endangered population," the researcher emphasized.
Illegal Shark Trade
The scientists, along with colleagues in North Africa, are keeping watch on multiple ports in the region. Evidence shows that endangered sharks are captured, brought to port, and sold in countries including Tunisia and Algeria.
The regulations safeguarding sharks are complicated. Currently, 24 threatened species have treaty-based safeguards – such as makos, angel sharks, threshers, and hammerheads.
An international agreement states that those species cannot be "kept on boats, transferred, landed, stored, or sold".
The agreement specifies "they must be returned to the sea alive [where] possible". Those rules do not tackle unintentional catch and enforcement is variable from country to country.
A marine advocate noted that his own inquiry found a number of sharks on sale. But, he said, there was a paradoxical element of hope in the fact that white sharks were appearing in trade.
"It shows that there is animals still there," he said. "And if we can safeguard this, there is a possibility of comeback."
Possible Solutions
In poorer communities in North Africa, fishermen who catch sharks might face the decision of whether to earn a livelihood, or release a protected animal to the ocean.
"Why would they discard their catch into the sea when they require sustenance for their families?" asked a scientist. "If you provide alternatives and education in more sustainable fishing, they will not catch these sharks."
A conservationist added that if countries around the Mediterranean collaborated, "there is hope."
"But," he added, "we've got to act very quickly."
