The iconic great white in the Mediterranean basin are facing a serious threat of extinction, with illegal fishing being a key factor to their rapid population drop.
This conclusion is based on research by scientists, who worked alongside an ocean protection organization. They report that some of the most threatened species – such as the great white – are found on sale in marketplaces across the North African coast.
Great whites are one of in excess of 20 Mediterranean shark species protected under international law, which prohibits to target them or to offer them for sale.
However, by monitoring fishing ports along the North African Mediterranean shoreline, scientists uncovered that at least 40 great white sharks have been killed there in 2025 alone.
Footage from social media showing sharks under protection being landed at North African ports has been independently verified.
A particular clip showed a sizeable great white shark being dragged onto land from a fishing boat in Algeria. Another, taken in a Tunisian location, shows parts of what is believed to be a protected mako, which is also a species at risk.
Remaining Habitat
The project head, explained that many shark populations – particularly great whites – had suffered a severe drop in the Mediterranean in the last few decades.
"No other stretch of water is subjected to such fishing pressure as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The consequences of commercial fishing has been increasing... and it's plausible that they will vanish in the coming years."
The Mediterranean white shark population is now classified as Critically Endangered by the key international body.
In their latest attempt to track and analyze the predators, the team worked in the Sicilian Strait – an area identified as a "last stronghold" in the Mediterranean for several endangered shark species.
A primary objective of their project was to deploy a tracking device onto a great white – something that has never been done in the Mediterranean Sea.
To attempt this, the researchers used over three tons of chum – including frozen mackerel and tuna scraps and hundreds of liters of tuna oil to create a "fat slick" that many sharks can detect from a great distance.
Despite working for two weeks – baiting the ocean, taking samples of seawater to test for environmental DNA and using underwater cameras – the researchers did not manage to find any animals to tag.
They captured only a short sighting of one blue shark on their underwater cameras.
"It's disheartening," the lead researcher said. "It just shows how depleted this habitat is."
As the team searched for living sharks, they also received reports that a juvenile great white had been taken in a fishery off North Africa – just 20 nautical miles from where they were working.
It is unknown whether that specimen was ensnared unintentionally in nets or lines, or if it was targeted.
The team, however, believes that more than 40 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 keeping watch on multiple ports in the region. Findings shows that sharks under protection are captured, brought to port, and sold in countries including several North African nations.
The regulations safeguarding sharks are complex. Currently, numerous species have global protection – 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 mandates "they must be released unharmed and alive [where] possible". Those rules do not tackle incidental capture and compliance varies from one place to another.
A marine advocate noted that his own investigation found a number of sharks on sale. But, he said, there was a paradoxical element of hope in the fact that white sharks were turning up for sale.
"It shows that there is animals still there," he said. "And if we can protect this, there is a hope for revival."
What Can Be Done?
In poorer communities in North Africa, fishermen who catch sharks might face the choice of whether to provide for their families, or throw back an endangered shark to the ocean.
"Why would they discard their catch into the sea when they require sustenance for their families?" asked a scientist. "If you support them and train them in more selective fishing, they will not catch protected species."
An advocate added that if countries around the Mediterranean joined forces, "there is hope."
"But," he stated, "we've got to act very quickly."
