🔗 Share this article Great White Sharks Risk Disappearing in the Mediterranean, Researchers State The iconic great white in the Mediterranean waters are facing a serious threat of extinction, with poaching being a significant driver to their rapid population drop. This finding is based on investigations carried out by researchers, who collaborated with an marine preservation group. They report that several critically endangered species – including great white sharks – are being sold in marketplaces across the North African coast. These sharks are one of more than 20 Mediterranean shark species protected under international law, which renders it unlawful to catch them or to offer them for sale. However, by surveying docks along the North African Mediterranean shoreline, investigators discovered that a minimum of forty great white sharks have been caught and killed there in the single year of 2025. Experts say they have documented protected species for sale in market stalls in North Africa. Footage from social media showing endangered sharks being unloaded in North African ports has been independently verified. A particular clip showed a large great white being dragged onto land from a vessel in Algeria. A separate video, taken in a Tunisian location, shows remains and fins of what is believed to be a short-finned mako shark, which is also a species at risk. Last Shark Stronghold The experts worked from a boat in the Sicily Strait. The project head, stated that many shark populations – particularly great whites – had declined dramatically in the Mediterranean in the last few decades. "No other sea is subjected to such fishing pressure as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The consequences of commercial fishing has been intensifying... and it's likely that they will vanish 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 locate and research the predators, the team worked in the waters between Sicily and North Africa – an area known as a "final refuge" in the Mediterranean for several endangered shark species. One key aim of their expedition was to attach a satellite tag onto a white shark – something that has never been done in the Mediterranean Sea. To do this, the researchers used more than three tonnes of chum – including frozen fish parts and a substantial volume of tuna oil to create a "oil slick" that many sharks can smell from hundreds of metres away. After two weeks of work – chumming the water, collecting water samples to search for shark DNA and using subsea cameras – the researchers failed to encounter any animals to tag. They captured only a short sighting of one shark on their submarine cameras. "It's discouraging," the lead researcher said. "It just shows how damaged this marine environment is." As the team searched for living sharks, they also were informed that a small great white had been caught and killed in a North African fishery – just not far from where they were working. It is uncertain whether that shark was caught by accident in nets or lines, or if it was deliberately caught. The team, however, calculates that over forty great white sharks have been harvested in that area. "This is a lot for a critically endangered population," the researcher emphasized. Illegal Shark Trade Research in North African markets in 2023 discovered protected sharks being offered for sale. The team, along with regional contacts, are keeping watch on multiple ports in the region. Documentation shows that protected sharks are captured, brought to port, and sold in countries including Tunisia and Algeria. The protective legislation are multifaceted. Currently, 24 threatened 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 specifies "they must be returned to the sea alive [where] possible". Those rules do not tackle incidental capture and implementation differs from nation to nation. The researchers used special cameras to survey the region. A expert noted that his own research found a number of 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 animals still there," he said. "And if we can safeguard this, there is a possibility of comeback." Possible Solutions In economically challenged regions in North Africa, fishermen who catch sharks might face the choice of whether to feed their family, or return a threatened species to the ocean. "Why would they discard their catch into the sea when they need food for their children?" asked a local expert. "If you provide alternatives and education in more sustainable fishing, they will not catch white sharks." A conservationist added that if countries around the Mediterranean joined forces, "there is hope." "But," he stated, "we've got to act very quickly."