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The iconic great white in the Mediterranean Sea are facing a serious threat of extinction, with unlawful fishing practices being a significant driver to their alarming decline.

This assessment is based on studies conducted by experts, who collaborated with an ocean protection organization. They indicate that some of the most threatened species – including great white sharks – are appearing for sale in fish markets across North Africa.

These sharks are one of in excess of 20 Mediterranean shark species safeguarded by global treaties, which renders it unlawful to catch them or to trade them.

However, by surveying docks along the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, investigators found that at least 40 great white sharks have been caught and killed there in 2025 alone.

Footage from social media showing sharks under protection being brought dead into North African ports has been authenticated.

One piece of footage showed a big shark being hauled ashore from a trawler in Algeria. Another, recorded in Tunisia, shows remains and fins of what looks like a protected mako, which is also a threatened and protected species.

Remaining Habitat

The lead researcher, stated that many shark species – white sharks in particular – had declined dramatically in the Mediterranean in the last few decades.

"No other sea is exploited as heavily as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The impact of industrial 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 International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

In their most recent effort to locate and research the predators, the team worked in the Strait of Sicily – an area considered a "final refuge" in the Mediterranean for several threatened shark species.

A primary objective of their mission was to deploy a tracking device onto a great white – something that has not yet been accomplished in the Mediterranean Sea.

To do this, the researchers used more than three tonnes of fish bait – including frozen fish parts and 500 litres of scent oil to create a "scent trail" 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 underwater cameras – the researchers did not manage to find any animals to tag.

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

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

During their search for living sharks, they also learned that a small great white had been captured and killed in a fishery off North Africa – just a short distance from where they were working.

It is not clear whether that specimen was accidentally caught in fishing gear, or if it was targeted.

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

Protected Sharks Traded

The scientists, along with regional contacts, are observing various harbors in the region. Findings shows that protected sharks are taken and traded in countries including Tunisia and Algeria.

The rules that protect sharks are complicated. Currently, two dozen endangered species have global protection – such as makos, angel sharks, threshers, and hammerheads.

An international agreement states that those species cannot be "kept on boats, transferred, landed, stored, or sold".

The agreement mandates "they must be released unharmed and alive [where] possible". Those rules do not tackle accidental bycatch and compliance varies from country to country.

A marine advocate noted that his own research 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 preserve this, there is a chance of recovery."

What Can Be Done?

In economically challenged regions in North Africa, fishers 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 release sharks into the sea when they require sustenance for their families?" asked a scientist. "If you provide alternatives and education in more responsible fishing, they will not catch these sharks."

A conservationist added that if countries around the Mediterranean joined forces, "there is hope."

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