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Great white sharks in the Mediterranean Sea are on the verge of vanishing, with illegal fishing 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 note that several critically endangered species – including great white sharks – are appearing for sale in ports across the North African coast.

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 North African Mediterranean shoreline, the research team uncovered that at least 40 great white sharks have been caught and killed there in the single year of 2025.

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

One video showed a large great white being pulled from a boat from a trawler in Algeria. A separate video, taken in a Tunisian location, shows remains and fins of what looks like a protected mako, which is also a species at risk.

Final Refuge

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

"No other stretch of water is subjected to such fishing pressure as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The consequences of commercial fishing has been growing... and it's likely that they will go extinct in the foreseeable future."

The Mediterranean great whites is now listed as Critically Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

In their most recent effort to locate and research the sharks, the team worked in the Sicilian Strait – an area known as a "last stronghold" in the Mediterranean for several endangered shark species.

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

To do this, the researchers used a large amount of chum – including baitfish and a substantial volume of scent 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 underwater cameras – the researchers did not manage to find any animals to tag.

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

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

As the team searched for remaining sharks, they also learned that a small great white had been taken in a regional fishery – just a short distance from where they were working.

It is uncertain whether that shark was ensnared unintentionally in gear, or if it was deliberately caught.

The team, however, estimates that over forty great white sharks have been taken along that coastline. "This is a lot for a critically endangered population," the researcher emphasized.

Protected Sharks Traded

The scientists, along with regional contacts, are monitoring several fishing ports in the region. Documentation shows that sharks under protection are caught, landed and offered for sale in countries including Tunisia and Algeria.

The rules that protect sharks are complicated. Currently, 24 threatened species have treaty-based safeguards – like makos 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 tackle unintentional catch and implementation differs from one place to another.

A marine advocate 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 appearing in trade.

"It shows that there is wildlife left," he said. "And if we can safeguard this, there is a chance of recovery."

What Can Be Done?

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

"Why would they release sharks into the sea when they require sustenance for their families?" asked a local expert. "If you assist and guide them in more responsible fishing, they will not catch protected species."

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

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