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These formidable predators in the Mediterranean Sea are facing a serious threat of extinction, with unlawful fishing practices being a major contributor to their rapid population drop.

This assessment is based on investigations carried out by researchers, who worked alongside an ocean protection organization. They indicate that several critically endangered species – such as the great white – are appearing for sale in marketplaces across North Africa.

Great white sharks are one of more than 20 Mediterranean shark species safeguarded by global treaties, which renders it unlawful to target them or to offer them for sale.

However, by surveying docks along the North African Mediterranean shoreline, the research team uncovered that no fewer than 40 great white sharks have been slaughtered in that region in 2025 alone.

Social media clips showing sharks under protection being landed at North African ports has been independently verified.

One piece of footage showed a big shark being hauled ashore from a trawler in an Algerian port. Another, filmed in Tunisia, shows heads and fins of what appears to be a short-finned mako shark, which is also a species at risk.

Final Refuge

The principal scientist, explained that many populations of sharks – great whites especially – had declined dramatically in the Mediterranean in the last few decades.

"No other stretch of water is exploited as heavily as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The consequences of commercial fishing has been increasing... and it's possible that they will vanish in the coming years."

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

In their most recent effort to track and analyze the animals, the team worked in the Sicilian Strait – an area considered a "final refuge" in the Mediterranean for several endangered shark species.

A primary objective of their expedition 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 baitfish and a substantial volume of fish oil to create a "oil slick" that many sharks can detect from a great distance.

After two weeks of work – laying bait, taking samples of seawater to search for shark DNA and using remote cameras – the researchers were unable to locate any animals to tag.

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

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

As the team searched for remaining sharks, they also learned that a young great white shark had been caught and killed in a fishery off North Africa – just not far from where they were working.

It is uncertain whether that specimen was caught by accident in nets or lines, or if it was deliberately caught.

The team, however, calculates that more than 40 great white sharks have been caught around that coast. "This is a lot for a critically endangered population," the researcher emphasized.

Illegal Shark Trade

The researchers, along with colleagues in North Africa, are observing various harbors in the region. Findings shows that endangered sharks are captured, brought to port, and sold in countries including Tunisia and Algeria.

The protective legislation are multifaceted. Currently, two dozen endangered species have treaty-based safeguards – including mako, angel, threshers and hammerheads.

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

The agreement mandates "they must be returned to the sea alive [where] possible". Those rules are not designed for incidental capture and implementation differs from country to country.

A expert noted that his own inquiry found a number of sharks 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 wildlife left," he said. "And if we can preserve this, there is a possibility of comeback."

What Can Be Done?

In economically challenged regions in North Africa, fishing communities who catch sharks might face the dilemma of whether to feed their family, or release a protected animal 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 these sharks."

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

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