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The iconic great white in the Mediterranean waters are in danger of disappearing, with illegal fishing being a significant driver to their worrying decrease.

This finding is based on research by scientists, who collaborated with an international conservation charity. They indicate that various at-risk marine animals – such as the great white – are being sold in marketplaces across North Africa.

These sharks are one of in excess of 20 Mediterranean shark species protected under international law, which renders it unlawful to catch them or to sell them.

However, by monitoring fishing ports along the North African Mediterranean shoreline, the research team found that no fewer than 40 great white sharks have been slaughtered in that region in the single year of 2025.

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

One video showed a big shark being dragged onto land from a vessel in an Algerian port. A separate video, recorded in Tunisia, shows heads and fins of what looks like a short-finned mako shark, which is also a protected and endangered species.

Remaining Habitat

The project head, clarified that many shark species – white sharks in particular – had declined dramatically in the Mediterranean in recent decades.

"No other stretch of water is subjected to such fishing pressure as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The impact of industrial fishing has been intensifying... and it's possible that they will vanish in the coming years."

The Mediterranean white shark population is now classified as Critically Endangered by the key international body.

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

A primary objective of their project was to deploy a tracking device onto a white shark – something that has remained unachieved in the Mediterranean Sea.

To attempt this, the researchers used a large amount of fish bait – including frozen mackerel and tuna scraps and 500 litres of scent oil to create a "oil slick" that many sharks can detect from a great distance.

Even after a fortnight of effort – baiting the ocean, sampling for DNA to test for environmental DNA and using underwater cameras – the researchers failed to encounter any specimens.

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

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

As the team searched for living sharks, they also were informed that a young great white shark had been taken in a fishery off North Africa – just 20 nautical miles from where they were working.

It is not clear whether that animal was accidentally caught in nets or lines, or if it was hunted.

The team, however, calculates that more than 40 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 scientists, along with regional contacts, are keeping watch on multiple ports in the region. Documentation shows that endangered sharks are caught, landed and offered for sale 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 do not tackle accidental bycatch and implementation differs from country to country.

A expert noted that his own research found multiple white sharks on sale. But, he said, there was a seeming silver lining in the fact that white sharks were appearing in trade.

"It shows that there is wildlife left," he said. "And if we can safeguard this, there is a hope for revival."

Possible Solutions

In economically challenged regions in North Africa, fishermen who catch sharks might face the dilemma of whether to earn a livelihood, or release a protected animal to the ocean.

"Why would they release sharks into the sea when they require sustenance for their families?" asked a local expert. "If you support them and train them in more responsible fishing, they will not catch white sharks."

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

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