The iconic great white in the Mediterranean Sea are facing a serious threat of extinction, with poaching being a major contributor to their worrying decrease.
This finding is based on studies conducted by experts, who collaborated with an ocean protection organization. They report that some of the most threatened species – such as the great white – are appearing for sale in marketplaces across North Africa.
Great whites are one of over twenty Mediterranean shark species safeguarded by global treaties, which makes it illegal to target them or to offer them for sale.
However, by observing harbors along the North African Mediterranean shoreline, investigators uncovered that at least 40 great white sharks have been slaughtered in that region in 2025 alone.
Footage from social media showing sharks under protection being landed at North African ports has been independently verified.
One video showed a sizeable great white shark being pulled from a boat from a fishing boat in an Algerian port. A separate video, filmed in Tunisia, shows heads and fins of what appears to be a short-finned mako shark, which is also a protected and endangered species.
Last Shark Stronghold
The principal scientist, clarified that many populations of sharks – white sharks in particular – had plummeted in the Mediterranean in the past years.
"No other body of water is exploited as heavily as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The effects of large-scale fishing has been intensifying... and it's plausible that they will become extinct in the coming years."
The population of great whites in the Mediterranean is now classified as Critically Endangered by the key international body.
In their new mission to track and analyze the predators, the team worked in the waters between Sicily and North Africa – an area identified as a "final refuge" in the Mediterranean for several endangered shark species.
One key aim of their mission was to fit a satellite tracking tag onto a white shark – something that has not yet been accomplished in the Mediterranean Sea.
To attempt this, the researchers used a large amount of bait – including baitfish and hundreds of liters of fish oil to create a "scent trail" that many sharks can detect from a great distance.
Despite working for two weeks – chumming the water, collecting water samples to test for environmental DNA and using subsea cameras – the researchers failed to encounter any animals to tag.
They captured only a short sighting of one blue shark species on their submarine cameras.
"It's disappointing," the lead researcher said. "It just shows how depleted this habitat is."
While the team was searching for surviving sharks, they also were informed that a juvenile great white had been captured and killed in a regional fishery – just 20 nautical miles from where they were working.
It is uncertain whether that specimen was caught by accident in gear, or if it was targeted.
The team, however, calculates that in excess of 40 great white sharks have been taken along that coastline. "This is a lot for a critically endangered population," the researcher emphasized.
Illegal Shark Trade
The team, along with colleagues in North Africa, are observing various harbors in the region. Evidence shows that sharks under protection are captured, brought to port, and sold in countries including Tunisia and Algeria.
The protective legislation are complex. Currently, two dozen endangered species have international legal protection – such as makos, angel sharks, 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 unintentional catch and compliance varies from one place to another.
A expert noted that his own investigation found several great whites on sale. But, he said, there was a unexpected hopeful sign in the fact that white sharks were being found in markets.
"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, fishermen who catch sharks might face the dilemma of whether to provide for their families, 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 support them and train them 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 added, "we've got to act very quickly."
