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These formidable predators in the Mediterranean Sea are facing a serious threat of extinction, with unlawful fishing practices being a significant driver to their alarming decline.

This conclusion is based on investigations carried out by researchers, who collaborated with an international conservation charity. They indicate that some of the most threatened species – like the great white shark – are found on sale in marketplaces across Northern African nations.

Great white sharks are one of over twenty Mediterranean shark species shielded by international agreements, which renders it unlawful to fish for them or to offer them for sale.

However, by monitoring fishing ports along the coastline of North Africa, scientists uncovered that no fewer than 40 great white sharks have been killed there in the single year of 2025.

Videos shared online showing protected sharks being brought dead into North African ports has been authenticated.

One piece of footage showed a big shark being pulled from a boat from a trawler in Algeria. Additional footage, taken in a Tunisian location, shows remains and fins of what is believed to be a mako shark, which is also a protected and endangered species.

Final Refuge

The lead researcher, clarified that many populations of sharks – white sharks in particular – had plummeted in the Mediterranean in the last few decades.

"No other sea is subjected to such fishing pressure as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The effects of large-scale fishing has been growing... and it's likely that they will become extinct in the foreseeable future."

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

In their most recent effort to track and analyze the predators, the team worked in the Sicilian Strait – an area known as a "last stronghold" in the Mediterranean for several endangered shark species.

One key aim of their mission was to fit a satellite tracking tag onto a great white – something that has not yet been accomplished in the Mediterranean Sea.

To do this, the researchers used a large amount of fish bait – including frozen mackerel and tuna scraps and a substantial volume of scent oil to create a "oil slick" that many sharks can detect from a great distance.

Even after a fortnight of effort – laying bait, taking samples of seawater to search for shark DNA and using subsea cameras – the researchers did not manage to find any animals to tag.

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

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

While the team was searching for living sharks, they also learned that a young great white shark had been taken in a North African fishery – just not far from where they were working.

It is uncertain whether that animal was ensnared unintentionally in 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.

Sharks for Sale

The scientists, along with colleagues in North Africa, are observing various harbors in the region. Evidence shows that endangered sharks are caught, landed and offered for sale in countries including the region.

The rules that protect sharks are complicated. Currently, two dozen endangered species have treaty-based safeguards – including mako, angel, 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 specifies "they must be released unharmed and alive [where] possible". Those rules do not address incidental capture and compliance varies from nation to nation.

A conservationist noted that his own investigation found several great whites on sale. But, he said, there was a seeming silver lining in the fact that white sharks were being found in markets.

"It shows that there is wildlife left," he said. "And if we can protect this, there is a possibility of comeback."

What Can Be Done?

In economically challenged regions in North Africa, fishermen who catch sharks might face the choice of whether to earn a livelihood, or return a threatened species to the ocean.

"Why would they throw sharks back into the sea when they must feed their households?" asked a regional marine biologist. "If you support them and train them in more responsible fishing, they will not catch protected species."

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

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