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These formidable predators in the Mediterranean waters are in danger of disappearing, with illegal fishing being a key factor to their alarming decline.

This finding is based on research by scientists, who worked alongside an ocean protection organization. They indicate that various at-risk marine animals – including great white sharks – are found on sale in ports across North Africa.

Great white sharks are one of in excess of 20 Mediterranean shark species safeguarded by global treaties, which renders it unlawful to fish for them or to sell them.

However, by surveying docks along the North African Mediterranean shoreline, scientists discovered that at least 40 great white sharks have been killed there in the single year of 2025.

Social media clips showing endangered sharks being brought dead into North African ports has been independently verified.

A particular clip showed a big shark being hauled ashore from a fishing boat in Algeria. A separate video, recorded in Tunisia, shows heads and fins of what is believed to be a protected mako, which is also a protected and endangered species.

Remaining Habitat

The lead researcher, clarified that many shark populations – particularly great whites – had suffered a severe drop in the Mediterranean in the past years.

"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 possible that they will vanish in the coming years."

The Mediterranean white shark population is now classified as Critically Endangered by the global conservation union.

In their latest attempt to find and study the sharks, the team worked in the Sicilian Strait – an area identified as a "last stronghold" in the Mediterranean for several endangered shark species.

A primary objective of their mission was to deploy a tracking device onto a shark – something that has not yet been accomplished in the Mediterranean Sea.

To do this, the researchers used more than three tonnes of bait – including baitfish and hundreds of liters of scent oil to create a "oil slick" that many sharks can smell from hundreds of metres away.

Despite working for two weeks – baiting the ocean, taking samples of seawater to look for genetic material and using underwater cameras – the researchers failed to encounter any animals to tag.

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

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

During their search for living sharks, they also learned that a juvenile great white had been taken in a regional fishery – just not far from where they were working.

It is uncertain whether that animal was accidentally caught in nets or lines, or if it was hunted.

The team, however, estimates that more than 40 great white sharks have been harvested in that area. "This is a lot for a critically endangered population," the researcher emphasized.

Sharks for Sale

The researchers, along with colleagues in North Africa, are monitoring several fishing ports in the region. Evidence shows that endangered sharks are taken and traded in countries including the region.

The regulations safeguarding sharks are multifaceted. Currently, two dozen endangered species have treaty-based safeguards – such as makos, angel sharks, 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 unharmed and alive [where] possible". Those rules are not designed for accidental bycatch and implementation differs from nation to nation.

A expert noted that his own investigation found several great whites on sale. But, he said, there was a paradoxical element of hope in the fact that white sharks were turning up for sale.

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

The Path Forward

In poorer communities in North Africa, fishing communities 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 must feed their households?" asked a regional marine biologist. "If you assist and guide them in more sustainable fishing, they will not catch protected species."

Another expert added that if countries around the Mediterranean worked together, "there is hope."

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