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The iconic great white in the Mediterranean waters are facing a serious threat of extinction, with illegal fishing being a major contributor to their alarming decline.

This assessment is based on investigations carried out by researchers, who collaborated with an international conservation charity. They indicate that some of the most threatened species – such as the great white – are found on sale in ports across North Africa.

Great whites are one of in excess of 20 Mediterranean shark species protected under international law, which makes it illegal to target them or to sell them.

However, by monitoring fishing ports along the North African Mediterranean shoreline, scientists discovered that no fewer than 40 great white sharks have been caught and killed there in the single year of 2025.

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

One piece of footage showed a sizeable great white shark being dragged onto land from a vessel in Algeria. Additional footage, recorded in Tunisia, shows heads and fins of what looks like a protected mako, which is also a threatened and protected species.

Remaining Habitat

The project head, explained that many shark species – great whites especially – had suffered a severe drop in the Mediterranean in the last few decades.

"No other stretch of water 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 become extinct in the coming years."

The Mediterranean great whites is now classified as Critically Endangered by the key international body.

In their new mission to locate and research the animals, the team worked in the Strait of Sicily – an area considered a "final refuge" 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 remained unachieved in the Mediterranean Sea.

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

Even after a fortnight of effort – chumming the water, sampling for DNA to look for genetic material and using subsea cameras – the researchers were unable to locate any specimens.

They captured only a brief glimpse 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 surviving sharks, they also received reports that a juvenile great white had been captured and killed in a fishery off North Africa – just not far from where they were working.

It is not clear whether that animal was caught by accident in gear, or if it was hunted.

The team, however, estimates that in excess of 40 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 researchers, along with local partners, are observing various harbors in the region. Evidence shows that endangered sharks are captured, brought to port, and sold in countries including the region.

The regulations safeguarding sharks are complex. Currently, numerous 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 released alive [where] possible". Those rules do not address accidental bycatch and implementation differs from one place to another.

A marine advocate noted that his own research 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 life remaining," he said. "And if we can safeguard this, there is a chance of recovery."

What Can Be Done?

In less affluent areas in North Africa, fishermen who catch sharks might face the decision of whether to earn a livelihood, or throw back an endangered shark to the ocean.

"Why would they discard their catch into the sea when they must feed their households?" asked a scientist. "If you provide alternatives and education in more sustainable fishing, they will not catch these sharks."

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

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