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The iconic great white in the Mediterranean Sea are in danger of disappearing, with illegal fishing being a significant driver to their alarming decline.

This conclusion is based on investigations carried out by researchers, who partnered with an international conservation charity. They report that some of the most threatened species – such as the great white – are appearing for sale in marketplaces across Northern African nations.

These sharks are one of in excess of 20 Mediterranean shark species protected under international law, which prohibits to fish for them or to sell them.

However, by observing harbors along the coastline of North Africa, scientists uncovered that a minimum of forty great white sharks have been slaughtered in that region in the single year of 2025.

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

One video showed a large great white being dragged onto land from a vessel in an Algerian port. Another, filmed in Tunisia, shows remains and fins of what appears to be a short-finned mako shark, which is also a threatened and protected species.

Last Shark Stronghold

The project head, clarified that many shark species – great whites especially – had declined dramatically in the Mediterranean in recent decades.

"No other stretch of water is fished like the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The effects of large-scale fishing has been growing... and it's plausible that they will vanish in the near future."

The population of great whites in the Mediterranean is now designated 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 considered a "final refuge" in the Mediterranean for several sharks at risk.

A primary objective of their expedition was to fit a satellite tracking tag onto a white shark – something that has not yet been accomplished in the Mediterranean Sea.

To do this, the researchers used more than three tonnes of chum – including baitfish and hundreds of liters of fish oil to create a "scent trail" that many sharks can sense from far off.

After two weeks of work – laying bait, taking samples of seawater to search for shark DNA and using underwater cameras – the researchers were unable to locate any animals to tag.

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

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

As the team searched for living sharks, they also were informed that a juvenile great white had been captured and killed in a North African fishery – just 20 nautical miles from where they were working.

It is unknown whether that animal was ensnared unintentionally in fishing gear, or if it was hunted.

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 team, along with colleagues in North Africa, are keeping watch on multiple ports in the region. Findings shows that endangered sharks are captured, brought to port, and sold in countries including the region.

The protective legislation are complicated. Currently, two dozen endangered species have international legal protection – such as makos, angel sharks, threshers, and hammerheads.

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

The agreement mandates "they must be released alive [where] possible". Those rules do not address incidental capture and implementation differs from one place to another.

A marine advocate noted that his own research found multiple white 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 preserve this, there is a possibility of comeback."

Possible Solutions

In less affluent areas in North Africa, fishing communities 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 require sustenance for their families?" asked a regional marine biologist. "If you assist and guide them in more selective fishing, they will not catch white sharks."

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

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