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The iconic great white in the Mediterranean waters are facing a serious threat of extinction, with unlawful fishing practices being a significant driver to their worrying decrease.

This assessment is based on research by scientists, who collaborated with an ocean protection organization. They report that several critically endangered species – including great white sharks – are appearing for sale in marketplaces across North Africa.

Great white sharks are one of over twenty Mediterranean shark species safeguarded by global treaties, which renders it unlawful to target them or to trade them.

However, by observing harbors along the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, the research team found that at least 40 great white sharks have been killed there in the single year of 2025.

Footage from social media showing protected sharks being brought dead into North African ports has been authenticated.

A particular clip showed a large great white being pulled from a boat from a fishing boat in Algeria. Additional footage, filmed in Tunisia, shows parts of what is believed to be a short-finned mako shark, which is also a species at risk.

Remaining Habitat

The project head, stated that many shark populations – particularly great whites – had declined dramatically in the Mediterranean in the past years.

"No other stretch of water is subjected to such fishing pressure as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The effects of large-scale fishing has been increasing... and it's likely that they will vanish in the coming years."

The Mediterranean white shark population is now classified as Critically Endangered by the global conservation union.

In their new mission to track and analyze the animals, the team worked in the Strait of Sicily – an area considered a "final refuge" in the Mediterranean for several threatened shark species.

An important goal of their mission was to attach a satellite tag onto a shark – something that has never been done in the Mediterranean Sea.

To try this, the researchers used a large amount of fish bait – including baitfish and 500 litres of scent oil to create a "oil slick" that many sharks can sense from far off.

Even after a fortnight of effort – chumming the water, collecting water samples to test for environmental DNA and using remote cameras – the researchers were unable to locate any animals to tag.

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

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

While the team was searching for surviving sharks, they also received reports that a juvenile great white had been taken in a North African fishery – just 20 nautical miles from where they were working.

It is uncertain whether that specimen was caught by accident in fishing gear, or if it was deliberately caught.

The team, however, believes that over forty great white sharks have been harvested in that area. "This is a lot for a critically endangered population," the researcher emphasized.

Protected Sharks Traded

The scientists, along with local partners, are monitoring several fishing ports in the region. Evidence shows that sharks under protection are captured, brought to port, and sold in countries including several North African nations.

The rules that protect sharks are complicated. Currently, 24 threatened species have treaty-based safeguards – including mako, angel, threshers and hammerheads.

An regional treaty 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 returned to the sea alive [where] possible". Those rules are not designed for unintentional catch and compliance varies from nation to nation.

A expert noted that his own inquiry 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 life remaining," he said. "And if we can protect this, there is a hope for revival."

Possible Solutions

In less affluent areas in North Africa, fishing communities who catch sharks might face the dilemma 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 must feed their households?" asked a scientist. "If you provide alternatives and education in more selective fishing, they will not catch protected species."

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

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