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Great white sharks in the Mediterranean Sea are on the verge of vanishing, with unlawful fishing practices being a significant driver to their rapid population drop.

This conclusion is based on research by scientists, who worked alongside an marine preservation group. They report that several critically endangered species – such as the great white – are found on sale in marketplaces across North Africa.

Great whites are one of in excess of 20 Mediterranean shark species safeguarded by global treaties, which prohibits to fish for them or to offer them for sale.

However, by monitoring fishing ports along the coastline of North Africa, investigators discovered 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 brought dead into North African ports has been confirmed.

A particular clip showed a sizeable great white shark being pulled from a boat from a fishing boat in Algeria. A separate video, taken in a Tunisian location, shows heads and fins of what is believed to be a short-finned mako shark, which is also a species at risk.

Remaining Habitat

The lead researcher, explained that many shark populations – great whites especially – had plummeted in the Mediterranean in the past years.

"No other body of water is exploited as heavily as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The consequences of commercial fishing has been growing... and it's possible that they will become extinct in the near future."

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

In their latest attempt to locate and research the animals, the team worked in the waters between Sicily and North Africa – an area considered a "final refuge" in the Mediterranean for several threatened shark species.

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

To attempt this, the researchers used more than three tonnes of fish bait – including baitfish and hundreds of liters of scent oil to create a "fat slick" that many sharks can detect from a great distance.

After two weeks of work – chumming the water, sampling for DNA to search for shark DNA and using subsea cameras – the researchers failed to encounter any specimens.

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

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

As the team searched for surviving sharks, they also received reports 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 uncertain whether that specimen was caught by accident in gear, or if it was hunted.

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.

Illegal Shark Trade

The scientists, along with colleagues in North Africa, are monitoring several fishing ports in the region. Documentation shows that endangered sharks are captured, brought to port, and sold in countries including Tunisia and Algeria.

The protective legislation are complicated. Currently, numerous species have international legal protection – including mako, angel, threshers and hammerheads.

An multinational pact 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 do not tackle accidental bycatch and implementation differs from nation to nation.

A conservationist noted that his own inquiry found multiple white sharks on sale. But, he said, there was a seeming silver lining 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 preserve this, there is a possibility of comeback."

What Can Be Done?

In less affluent areas in North Africa, fishermen who catch sharks might face the decision of whether to feed their family, or return a threatened species to the ocean.

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

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

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