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These formidable predators in the Mediterranean waters are in danger of disappearing, with unlawful fishing practices being a key factor to their rapid population drop.

This finding is based on studies conducted by experts, who collaborated with an international conservation charity. They indicate that several critically endangered species – like the great white shark – are being sold in marketplaces across Northern African nations.

Great whites are one of more than 20 Mediterranean shark species shielded by international agreements, which prohibits to fish for 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 killed there in 2025 alone.

Videos shared online 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 vessel in Algeria. Additional footage, recorded in Tunisia, shows remains and fins of what appears to be a short-finned mako shark, which is also a threatened and protected species.

Remaining Habitat

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

"No other body of water is fished like the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The consequences of commercial fishing has been growing... and it's possible that they will vanish 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 sharks, the team worked in the waters between Sicily and North Africa – an area identified as a "last stronghold" in the Mediterranean for several sharks at risk.

One key aim of their expedition was to fit a satellite tracking tag onto a white shark – something that has never been done in the Mediterranean Sea.

To try this, the researchers used over three tons of bait – including baitfish and 500 litres of tuna oil to create a "oil slick" that many sharks can sense from far off.

After two weeks of work – chumming the water, sampling for DNA to search for shark DNA and using subsea cameras – the researchers did not manage to find any animals to tag.

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

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

While the team was searching for remaining sharks, they also received reports 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 shark was accidentally caught in fishing gear, or if it was hunted.

The team, however, believes that more than 40 great white sharks have been harvested in that area. "This is a lot for a critically endangered population," the researcher emphasized.

Sharks for Sale

The team, along with local partners, are monitoring several fishing ports in the region. Findings shows that endangered sharks are taken and traded in countries including several North African nations.

The protective legislation are multifaceted. Currently, two dozen endangered species have international legal protection – 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 mandates "they must be returned to the sea alive [where] possible". Those rules do not address accidental bycatch and compliance varies from nation to nation.

A conservationist noted that his own research found a number of sharks 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 preserve this, there is a chance of recovery."

The Path Forward

In economically challenged regions in North Africa, fishers who catch sharks might face the decision 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 require sustenance for their families?" asked a regional marine biologist. "If you assist and guide them in more selective fishing, they will not catch white sharks."

A conservationist added that if countries around the Mediterranean worked together, "there is hope."

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