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These formidable predators in the Mediterranean basin are in danger of disappearing, with poaching being a significant driver to their worrying decrease.

This assessment is based on investigations carried out by researchers, who partnered with an ocean protection organization. They note that several critically endangered species – such as the great white – are appearing for sale in marketplaces across Northern African nations.

These sharks are one of over twenty Mediterranean shark species protected under international law, which makes it illegal to catch them or to offer them for sale.

However, by surveying docks along the North African Mediterranean shoreline, scientists found that no fewer than 40 great white sharks have been caught and killed there in the single year of 2025.

Social media clips showing sharks under protection being brought dead into North African ports has been confirmed.

A particular clip showed a sizeable great white shark being hauled ashore from a vessel in Algeria. Additional footage, recorded in Tunisia, shows heads and fins of what appears to be a mako shark, which is also a threatened and protected species.

Final Refuge

The project head, clarified that many shark populations – particularly great whites – had plummeted in the Mediterranean in the last few decades.

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

The Mediterranean great whites is now classified as Critically Endangered by the key international body.

In their new mission to locate and research the sharks, the team worked in the Sicilian Strait – an area known as a "last stronghold" in the Mediterranean for several threatened shark species.

A primary objective of their mission was to deploy a tracking device onto a shark – something that has never been done in the Mediterranean Sea.

To try this, the researchers used more than three tonnes of fish bait – including frozen mackerel and tuna scraps and a substantial volume of tuna oil to create a "oil slick" that many sharks can sense from far off.

After two weeks of work – baiting the ocean, taking samples of seawater to test for environmental DNA and using remote cameras – the researchers did not manage to find any specimens.

They captured only a fleeting sighting of one shark on their underwater cameras.

"It's disappointing," the lead researcher said. "It just shows how degraded this marine environment is."

As the team searched for remaining sharks, they also learned that a small great white had been taken in a North African fishery – just 20 nautical miles from where they were working.

It is uncertain whether that shark was accidentally caught in fishing gear, or if it was hunted.

The team, however, believes that over forty 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 team, along with local partners, are monitoring several fishing ports in the region. Evidence shows that protected sharks are caught, landed and offered for sale in countries including the region.

The rules that protect sharks are complicated. Currently, 24 threatened species have treaty-based safeguards – like makos and hammerheads.

An international agreement states that those species cannot be "retained on board, transhipped, landed, transferred, stored, sold or displayed or offered for sale".

The agreement specifies "they must be released unharmed and alive [where] possible". Those rules are not designed for accidental bycatch and compliance varies from country to country.

A expert noted that his own investigation found several great whites 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 protect this, there is a chance of recovery."

The Path Forward

In poorer communities in North Africa, fishing communities who catch sharks might face the decision of whether to feed their family, or return a threatened species to the ocean.

"Why would they throw sharks back into the sea when they need food for their children?" asked a scientist. "If you support them and train them in more sustainable fishing, they will not catch white sharks."

Another expert added that if countries around the Mediterranean joined forces, "there is hope."

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