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These formidable predators in the Mediterranean waters are on the verge of vanishing, with unlawful fishing practices being a key factor to their alarming decline.

This assessment is based on studies conducted by experts, who collaborated with an ocean protection organization. They indicate that several critically endangered species – including great white sharks – are found on sale in marketplaces across Northern African nations.

These sharks are one of more than 20 Mediterranean shark species safeguarded by global treaties, 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 discovered that no fewer than 40 great white sharks have been caught and killed there in 2025 alone.

Social media clips showing protected sharks being brought dead into North African ports has been confirmed.

A particular clip showed a sizeable great white shark being dragged onto land from a fishing boat in an Algerian port. A separate video, recorded in Tunisia, shows remains and fins of what appears to be a protected mako, which is also a threatened and protected species.

Final Refuge

The principal scientist, explained that many populations of sharks – white sharks in particular – had suffered a severe drop in the Mediterranean in the past years.

"No other sea is fished like the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The consequences of commercial fishing has been increasing... and it's possible 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 global conservation union.

In their new mission to locate and research the sharks, the team worked in the Strait of Sicily – an area identified as a "last stronghold" in the Mediterranean for several endangered shark species.

A primary objective of their project was to fit a satellite tracking tag onto a shark – something that has never been done in the Mediterranean Sea.

To attempt this, the researchers used a large amount of bait – including baitfish and hundreds of liters of tuna oil to create a "oil slick" that many sharks can sense from far off.

After two weeks of work – baiting the ocean, taking samples of seawater to look for genetic material and using subsea cameras – the researchers did not manage to find any sharks to tag.

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

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

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

It is uncertain whether that shark was accidentally caught in fishing gear, or if it was targeted.

The team, however, estimates that in excess of 40 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 keeping watch on multiple ports in the region. Documentation shows that protected sharks are caught, landed and offered for sale in countries including the region.

The regulations safeguarding sharks are complicated. Currently, two dozen endangered species have global protection – including mako, angel, threshers and hammerheads.

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

The agreement states "they must be released alive [where] possible". Those rules do not address accidental bycatch and enforcement is variable from country to country.

A expert noted that his own research found several great whites on sale. But, he said, there was a seeming silver lining in the fact that white sharks were turning up for sale.

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

The Path Forward

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 discard their catch into the sea when they require sustenance for their families?" asked a local expert. "If you support them and train them in more selective fishing, they will not catch these sharks."

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

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