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The iconic great white in the Mediterranean basin are in danger of disappearing, with poaching being a key factor to their worrying decrease.

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

These sharks are one of over twenty Mediterranean shark species safeguarded by global treaties, which prohibits to fish for them or to offer them for sale.

However, by observing harbors along the North African Mediterranean shoreline, investigators found that a minimum of forty great white sharks have been caught and killed there in the single year of 2025.

Videos shared online showing sharks under protection being landed at North African ports has been independently verified.

One video showed a large great white being hauled ashore from a trawler in Algeria. A separate video, filmed in Tunisia, shows parts of what looks like a protected mako, which is also a threatened and protected species.

Remaining Habitat

The project head, stated that many shark species – great whites especially – 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 effects of large-scale fishing has been growing... and it's plausible that they will go extinct in the near future."

The population of great whites in the Mediterranean is now designated as Critically Endangered by the key international body.

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

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

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

After two weeks of work – chumming the water, collecting water samples to search for shark DNA and using remote cameras – the researchers did not manage to find any sharks to tag.

They captured only a short sighting of one shark on their underwater cameras.

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

During their search for living sharks, they also learned 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 unknown whether that specimen was ensnared unintentionally in nets or lines, 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 researchers, along with local partners, are monitoring several fishing ports in the region. Documentation shows that sharks under protection are captured, brought to port, and sold in countries including several North African nations.

The protective legislation are multifaceted. Currently, 24 threatened species have treaty-based safeguards – including mako, angel, threshers 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 states "they must be returned to the sea alive [where] possible". Those rules do not tackle incidental capture and enforcement is variable from country to country.

A expert noted that his own investigation found several great whites on sale. But, he said, there was a unexpected hopeful sign in the fact that white sharks were appearing in trade.

"It shows that there is wildlife left," he said. "And if we can preserve this, there is a hope for revival."

The Path Forward

In economically challenged regions in North Africa, fishermen who catch sharks might face the choice of whether to earn a livelihood, or return a threatened species 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 assist and guide them in more selective fishing, they will not catch white sharks."

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

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