The Great White Risk Extinction in the Mediterranean Sea, Researchers State

The iconic great white in the Mediterranean Sea are on the verge of vanishing, with unlawful fishing practices being a significant driver to their worrying decrease.

This assessment is based on investigations carried out by researchers, who collaborated with an international conservation charity. They report that several critically endangered species – such as the great white – are found on sale in marketplaces across the North African coast.

Great white sharks are one of in excess of 20 Mediterranean shark species protected under international law, which makes it illegal to fish for them or to trade them.

However, by surveying docks along the coastline of North Africa, investigators discovered that no fewer than 40 great white sharks have been slaughtered in that region in the single year of 2025.

Footage from social media showing protected sharks being unloaded in North African ports has been independently verified.

One piece of footage showed a large great white being pulled from a boat from a trawler in Algeria. Additional footage, recorded in Tunisia, shows heads and fins of what appears to be a short-finned mako shark, which is also a species at risk.

Remaining Habitat

The project head, explained that many shark populations – great whites especially – had plummeted in the Mediterranean in the last few decades.

"No other sea is fished like the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The effects of large-scale fishing has been increasing... and it's likely that they will become extinct in the coming years."

The Mediterranean great whites is now classified as Critically Endangered by the global conservation union.

In their most recent effort to find and study the sharks, the team worked in the waters between Sicily and North Africa – 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 shark – something that has remained unachieved in the Mediterranean Sea.

To try this, the researchers used a large amount of bait – including frozen mackerel and tuna scraps and a substantial volume of fish oil to create a "scent trail" that many sharks can detect from a great distance.

Even after a fortnight of effort – baiting the ocean, taking samples of seawater to test for environmental DNA and using remote cameras – the researchers did not manage to find any specimens.

They captured only a short sighting of one blue shark species on their underwater cameras.

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

During their search for surviving sharks, they also were informed that a juvenile great white had been captured and killed in a regional fishery – just not far from where they were working.

It is not clear whether that specimen was ensnared unintentionally in nets or lines, or if it was hunted.

The team, however, calculates 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 team, along with local partners, are observing various harbors in the region. Documentation shows that protected sharks are captured, brought to port, and sold in countries including Tunisia and Algeria.

The regulations safeguarding sharks are multifaceted. Currently, numerous species have international legal protection – 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 states "they must be released alive [where] possible". Those rules do not address incidental capture and implementation differs from country to country.

A marine advocate 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 being found in markets.

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

What Can Be Done?

In economically challenged regions in North Africa, fishermen who catch sharks might face the choice of whether to feed their family, or throw back an endangered shark to the ocean.

"Why would they discard their catch into the sea when they require sustenance for their families?" asked a local expert. "If you assist and guide them in more responsible fishing, they will not catch these sharks."

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

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