🔗 Share this article

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

This finding is based on research by scientists, who worked alongside an ocean protection organization. They note that various at-risk marine animals – such as the great white – are being sold in marketplaces across Northern African nations.

These sharks are one of over twenty Mediterranean shark species shielded by international agreements, which prohibits to catch them or to offer them for sale.

However, by observing harbors along the coastline of North Africa, scientists found that a minimum of forty great white sharks have been slaughtered in that region in the single year of 2025.

Footage from social media showing protected sharks being unloaded in North African ports has been independently verified.

A particular clip showed a sizeable great white shark being pulled from a boat from a fishing boat in an Algerian port. Additional footage, taken in a Tunisian location, shows heads and fins of what is believed to be a short-finned mako shark, which is also a species at risk.

Last Shark Stronghold

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

"No other stretch of water is fished like the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The consequences of commercial fishing has been increasing... and it's possible that they will go extinct in the foreseeable future."

The Mediterranean white shark population is now listed as Critically Endangered by the key international body.

In their most recent effort to find and study the animals, the team worked in the Sicilian Strait – an area identified as a "key remaining habitat" in the Mediterranean for several endangered shark species.

An important goal of their expedition was to attach a satellite tag onto a great white – something that has remained unachieved in the Mediterranean Sea.

To try this, the researchers used more than three tonnes of fish bait – including baitfish and 500 litres of scent oil to create a "oil slick" that many sharks can sense from far off.

After two weeks of work – chumming the water, collecting water samples to look for genetic material and using remote cameras – the researchers failed to encounter any animals to tag.

They captured only a brief glimpse of one blue shark species on their cameras.

"It's disheartening," the lead researcher said. "It just shows how depleted this ecosystem is."

As the team searched for living sharks, they also were informed that a young great white shark had been taken in a fishery off North Africa – just 20 nautical miles from where they were working.

It is unknown whether that animal was ensnared unintentionally in fishing gear, or if it was deliberately caught.

The team, however, calculates that more than 40 great white sharks have been harvested in that area. "This is a lot for a critically endangered population," the researcher emphasized.

Protected Sharks Traded

The researchers, along with local partners, are keeping watch on multiple ports in the region. Documentation shows that sharks under protection are captured, brought to port, and sold in countries including the region.

The protective legislation are complex. Currently, two dozen endangered species have international legal protection – like makos and hammerheads.

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

The agreement states "they must be returned to the sea alive [where] possible". Those rules do not address accidental bycatch and enforcement is variable from country to country.

A conservationist noted that his own inquiry found multiple white sharks on sale. But, he said, there was a unexpected hopeful sign in the fact that white sharks were appearing in trade.

"It shows that there is wildlife left," he said. "And if we can safeguard this, there is a possibility of comeback."

What Can Be Done?

In economically challenged regions in North Africa, fishers who catch sharks might face the choice 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 need food for their children?" asked a regional marine biologist. "If you assist and guide them in more sustainable fishing, they will not catch these sharks."

Another expert added that if countries around the Mediterranean worked together, "there is hope."

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