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The iconic great white in the Mediterranean Sea are in danger of disappearing, with unlawful fishing practices being a major contributor to their worrying decrease.

This conclusion is based on investigations carried out by researchers, who partnered with an ocean protection organization. They report that various at-risk marine animals – including great white sharks – are appearing for sale in marketplaces across the North African coast.

Great white sharks are one of more than 20 Mediterranean shark species shielded by international agreements, which renders it unlawful to fish for them or to sell them.

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

Footage from social media showing protected sharks being unloaded in North African ports has been independently verified.

One piece of footage showed a big shark being hauled ashore from a fishing boat in Algeria. Additional footage, filmed in Tunisia, shows remains and fins of what is believed to be a protected mako, which is also a threatened and protected species.

Remaining Habitat

The principal scientist, stated that many populations of sharks – great whites especially – had plummeted in the Mediterranean in recent decades.

"No other body of water is fished like the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The effects of large-scale fishing has been increasing... and it's plausible that they will vanish in the foreseeable future."

The Mediterranean great whites is now listed as Critically Endangered by the global conservation union.

In their most recent effort to locate and research the animals, the team worked in the waters between Sicily and North Africa – an area identified as a "final refuge" in the Mediterranean for several threatened shark species.

An important goal of their project was to attach a satellite tag onto a great white – something that has remained unachieved in the Mediterranean Sea.

To try this, the researchers used a large amount of bait – including frozen fish parts and a substantial volume 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, sampling for DNA to test for environmental DNA and using subsea cameras – the researchers failed to encounter any animals to tag.

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

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

During their search for surviving sharks, they also received reports that a small great white had been taken in a fishery off North Africa – just not far from where they were working.

It is uncertain whether that animal was ensnared unintentionally in gear, or if it was targeted.

The team, however, believes that more than 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 researchers, along with local partners, are keeping watch on multiple ports in the region. Findings shows that protected sharks are taken and traded in countries including Tunisia and Algeria.

The protective legislation are complicated. Currently, 24 threatened species have global protection – like makos 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 specifies "they must be released unharmed and alive [where] possible". Those rules do not address accidental bycatch and enforcement is variable from one place to another.

A marine advocate noted that his own inquiry 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."

The Path Forward

In poorer communities in North Africa, fishers who catch sharks might face the decision of whether to earn a livelihood, or release a protected animal to the ocean.

"Why would they throw sharks back into the sea when they need food for their children?" asked a scientist. "If you provide alternatives and education in more selective fishing, they will not catch these sharks."

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

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