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Great white sharks 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 worked alongside an ocean protection organization. They report that several critically endangered species – including great white sharks – are being sold in fish markets across North Africa.

Great white sharks are one of in excess of 20 Mediterranean shark species safeguarded by global treaties, which makes it illegal to target them or to trade them.

However, by observing harbors along the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, the research team discovered that a minimum of forty great white sharks have been caught and killed there in 2025 alone.

Videos shared online showing sharks under protection being brought dead into North African ports has been authenticated.

A particular clip showed a sizeable great white shark being hauled ashore from a trawler in an Algerian port. A separate video, taken in a Tunisian location, shows remains and fins of what looks like a mako shark, which is also a species at risk.

Last Shark Stronghold

The principal scientist, stated that many shark populations – great whites especially – had suffered a severe drop in the Mediterranean in the last few decades.

"No other body of water is subjected to such fishing pressure as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The impact of industrial fishing has been intensifying... and it's likely that they will vanish in the foreseeable future."

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

In their latest attempt to track and analyze the predators, the team worked in the Sicilian Strait – an area known as a "key remaining habitat" in the Mediterranean for several sharks at risk.

An important goal of their expedition was to deploy a tracking device onto a great white – something that has never been done in the Mediterranean Sea.

To attempt this, the researchers used over three tons of fish bait – including frozen fish parts and a substantial volume of fish oil to create a "fat slick" that many sharks can sense from far off.

After two weeks of work – laying bait, taking samples of seawater to test for environmental DNA and using remote 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 discouraging," the lead researcher said. "It just shows how depleted this habitat is."

While the team was searching for remaining sharks, they also received reports that a small great white had been taken in a North African fishery – just a short distance from where they were working.

It is unknown whether that specimen was accidentally caught in nets or lines, or if it was targeted.

The team, however, calculates that in excess of 40 great white sharks have been harvested in that area. "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. Evidence shows that protected sharks are captured, brought to port, and sold in countries including several North African nations.

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

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

The agreement specifies "they must be released alive [where] possible". Those rules are not designed for accidental bycatch and compliance varies from one place to another.

A conservationist noted that his own inquiry found multiple white sharks 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 hope for revival."

The Path Forward

In poorer communities in North Africa, fishing communities who catch sharks might face the choice of whether to provide for their families, or release a protected animal to the ocean.

"Why would they throw sharks back into the sea when they require sustenance for their families?" asked a scientist. "If you assist and guide them in more sustainable 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."