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These formidable predators in the Mediterranean Sea are on the verge of vanishing, with illegal fishing being a significant driver to their rapid population drop.

This assessment is based on studies conducted by experts, who collaborated with an marine preservation group. They indicate that several critically endangered species – such as the great white – are being sold in ports across the North African coast.

Great whites are one of in excess of 20 Mediterranean shark species safeguarded by global treaties, which prohibits to fish for them or to sell them.

However, by observing harbors along the North African Mediterranean shoreline, the research team found that at least 40 great white sharks have been caught and killed there in 2025 alone.

Footage from social media showing protected sharks being unloaded in North African ports has been independently verified.

A particular clip showed a big shark being hauled ashore from a fishing boat in an Algerian port. Additional footage, recorded in Tunisia, shows parts of what is believed to be a mako shark, which is also a threatened and protected species.

Final Refuge

The project head, explained that many shark species – particularly great whites – had suffered a severe drop in the Mediterranean in recent decades.

"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 intensifying... and it's likely 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 track and analyze the animals, the team worked in the Sicilian Strait – an area known as a "final refuge" in the Mediterranean for several sharks at risk.

A primary objective of their mission was to attach a satellite tag onto a great white – something that has never been done in the Mediterranean Sea.

To attempt this, the researchers used a large amount of chum – including frozen fish parts and hundreds of liters of fish oil to create a "fat slick" that many sharks can smell from hundreds of metres away.

Even after a fortnight of effort – baiting the ocean, taking samples of seawater to look for genetic material and using remote cameras – the researchers did not manage to find any specimens.

They captured only a brief glimpse of one blue shark species on their underwater cameras.

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

While the team was searching for surviving sharks, they also learned that a juvenile great white had been caught and killed in a fishery off North Africa – just not far from where they were working.

It is unknown whether that animal was ensnared unintentionally in nets or lines, or if it was targeted.

The team, however, estimates that over forty great white sharks have been caught around that coast. "This is a lot for a critically endangered population," the researcher emphasized.

Illegal Shark Trade

The researchers, along with regional contacts, are monitoring several fishing ports in the region. Evidence shows that endangered sharks are captured, brought to port, and sold in countries including the region.

The regulations safeguarding sharks are multifaceted. Currently, 24 threatened species have global protection – like makos 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 specifies "they must be released alive [where] possible". Those rules do not tackle accidental bycatch and implementation differs from country to country.

A conservationist noted that his own investigation found multiple white sharks on sale. But, he said, there was a paradoxical element of hope in the fact that white sharks were being found in markets.

"It shows that there is life remaining," he said. "And if we can preserve this, there is a chance of recovery."

Possible Solutions

In less affluent areas in North Africa, fishermen who catch sharks might face the dilemma of whether to earn a livelihood, or throw back an endangered shark to the ocean.

"Why would they discard their catch into the sea when they need food for their children?" asked a regional marine biologist. "If you support them and train them in more responsible fishing, they will not catch protected species."

An advocate added that if countries around the Mediterranean collaborated, "there is hope."

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