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These formidable predators in the Mediterranean basin are on the verge of vanishing, with unlawful fishing practices being a key factor to their alarming decline.

This conclusion 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 the North African coast.

These sharks are one of in excess of 20 Mediterranean shark species protected under international law, which prohibits to target them or to sell them.

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

Videos shared online showing sharks under protection being unloaded in North African ports has been authenticated.

One video showed a big shark being hauled ashore from a vessel in an Algerian port. Another, recorded in Tunisia, shows parts of what looks like a short-finned mako shark, which is also a protected and endangered species.

Last Shark Stronghold

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 fished like the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The consequences of commercial fishing has been intensifying... and it's plausible that they will vanish in the foreseeable future."

The Mediterranean white shark population is now classified as Critically Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

In their latest attempt to track and analyze the animals, the team worked in the Sicilian Strait – an area identified as a "key remaining habitat" in the Mediterranean for several threatened shark species.

One key aim of their expedition was to fit a satellite tracking tag onto a white shark – something that has not yet been accomplished in the Mediterranean Sea.

To do this, the researchers used a large amount of bait – including frozen fish parts and 500 litres of fish oil to create a "scent trail" that many sharks can sense from far off.

After two weeks of work – chumming the water, collecting water samples to look for genetic material and using underwater cameras – the researchers did not manage to find any sharks to tag.

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

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

As the team searched for remaining sharks, they also received reports that a juvenile great white had been taken in a regional fishery – just 20 nautical miles from where they were working.

It is uncertain whether that shark was ensnared unintentionally in nets or lines, or if it was targeted.

The team, however, estimates that in excess of 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 scientists, along with regional contacts, are keeping watch on multiple ports in the region. Evidence shows that protected sharks are caught, landed and offered for sale in countries including Tunisia and Algeria.

The regulations safeguarding sharks are complicated. Currently, 24 threatened species have global protection – 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 mandates "they must be released alive [where] possible". Those rules do not address accidental bycatch and enforcement is variable from one place to another.

A marine advocate noted that his own inquiry found multiple white sharks 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 animals still there," he said. "And if we can safeguard this, there is a hope for revival."

What Can Be Done?

In poorer communities in North Africa, fishing communities who catch sharks might face the dilemma of whether to feed their family, or throw back an endangered shark to the ocean.

"Why would they release sharks into the sea when they must feed their households?" asked a local expert. "If you assist and guide them in more selective fishing, they will not catch white sharks."

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

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