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These formidable predators in the Mediterranean Sea are in danger of disappearing, with illegal fishing being a major contributor to their rapid population drop.

This assessment is based on research by scientists, who worked alongside an ocean protection organization. They note that some of the most threatened species – such as the great white – are being sold in ports across Northern African nations.

These sharks are one of in excess of 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 North African Mediterranean shoreline, investigators discovered that at least 40 great white sharks have been killed there in the single year of 2025.

Social media clips showing protected sharks being landed at North African ports has been independently verified.

One piece of footage showed a big 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 looks like a mako shark, which is also a species at risk.

Final Refuge

The principal scientist, explained that many populations of sharks – great whites especially – had suffered a severe drop in the Mediterranean in the last few decades.

"No other body of water is exploited as heavily as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The effects of large-scale fishing has been increasing... and it's plausible that they will become extinct in the near future."

The Mediterranean great whites is now designated as Critically Endangered by the global conservation union.

In their latest attempt to find and study the sharks, the team worked in the Strait of Sicily – an area considered a "last stronghold" in the Mediterranean for several threatened shark species.

An important goal of their project was to fit a satellite tracking tag onto a shark – something that has remained unachieved in the Mediterranean Sea.

To try this, the researchers used over three tons of chum – including frozen fish parts and 500 litres 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, taking samples of seawater to search for shark DNA 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 underwater cameras.

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

As the team searched for surviving sharks, they also learned that a juvenile great white had been taken in a North African fishery – just a short distance 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, estimates that in excess of 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 team, along with colleagues in North Africa, are keeping watch on multiple ports in the region. Documentation shows that protected sharks are captured, brought to port, and sold in countries including the region.

The rules that protect sharks are complex. Currently, 24 threatened species have treaty-based safeguards – such as makos, angel sharks, threshers, 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 alive [where] possible". Those rules are not designed for accidental bycatch and compliance varies from nation to nation.

A expert 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 life remaining," he said. "And if we can preserve this, there is a possibility of comeback."

The Path Forward

In less affluent areas in North Africa, fishermen who catch sharks might face the dilemma 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 require sustenance for their families?" asked a regional marine biologist. "If you provide alternatives and education in more responsible fishing, they will not catch protected species."

A conservationist added that if countries around the Mediterranean joined forces, "there is hope."

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