The iconic great white in the Mediterranean Sea are in danger of disappearing, with unlawful fishing practices being a major contributor to their worrying decrease.
This finding is based on studies conducted by experts, who partnered with an marine preservation group. They report that several critically endangered species – such as the great white – are being sold in ports across Northern African nations.
These sharks are one of more than 20 Mediterranean shark species protected under international law, which makes it illegal to target them or to offer them for sale.
However, by monitoring fishing ports along the coastline of North Africa, investigators discovered that at least 40 great white sharks have been caught and killed there in 2025 alone.
Footage from social media showing endangered sharks being brought dead into North African ports has been authenticated.
One video showed a sizeable great white shark being pulled from a boat from a vessel in Algeria. A separate video, filmed in Tunisia, shows parts of what appears to be a short-finned mako shark, which is also a species at risk.
Final Refuge
The project head, explained that many shark populations – particularly great whites – had plummeted 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 growing... and it's possible that they will go extinct in the coming years."
The population of great whites in the Mediterranean is now classified as Critically Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
In their most recent effort to track and analyze the animals, the team worked in the Sicilian Strait – an area considered a "final refuge" in the Mediterranean for several threatened shark species.
One key aim of their expedition was to deploy a tracking device onto a great white – something that has remained unachieved in the Mediterranean Sea.
To attempt this, the researchers used over three tons of bait – including baitfish and 500 litres of tuna oil to create a "fat slick" that many sharks can detect from a great distance.
Even after a fortnight of effort – chumming the water, collecting water samples to look for genetic material and using underwater cameras – the researchers failed to encounter any sharks to tag.
They captured only a short sighting of one blue shark on their cameras.
"It's discouraging," the lead researcher said. "It just shows how damaged this marine environment is."
While the team was searching for surviving sharks, they also received reports that a juvenile great white had been caught and killed in a North African fishery – just a short distance from where they were working.
It is uncertain whether that specimen was ensnared unintentionally in gear, or if it was deliberately caught.
The team, however, believes that more than 40 great white sharks have been taken along that coastline. "This is a lot for a critically endangered population," the researcher emphasized.
Protected Sharks Traded
The researchers, along with regional contacts, are keeping watch on multiple ports in the region. Documentation shows that endangered sharks are taken and traded in countries including Tunisia and Algeria.
The protective legislation are complicated. Currently, numerous species have global protection – like makos and hammerheads.
An multinational pact states that those species cannot be "kept on boats, transferred, landed, stored, or sold".
The agreement specifies "they must be released alive [where] possible". Those rules are not designed for incidental capture and enforcement is variable from one place to another.
A expert noted that his own investigation found a number of sharks on sale. But, he said, there was a seeming silver lining in the fact that white sharks were appearing in trade.
"It shows that there is animals still there," he said. "And if we can preserve this, there is a hope for revival."
The Path Forward
In economically challenged regions in North Africa, fishers who catch sharks might face the choice of whether to feed their family, 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 regional marine biologist. "If you assist and guide them in more responsible fishing, they will not catch these sharks."
Another expert added that if countries around the Mediterranean collaborated, "there is hope."
"But," he stated, "we've got to act very quickly."
