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

This conclusion is based on research by scientists, who collaborated with an marine preservation group. They indicate that some of the most threatened species – including great white sharks – are appearing for sale in ports across the North African coast.

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

However, by monitoring fishing ports along the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, scientists found that a minimum of forty great white sharks have been slaughtered in that region in 2025 alone.

Videos shared online showing sharks under protection being landed at North African ports has been confirmed.

A particular clip showed a big shark being pulled from a boat from a trawler in Algeria. Another, filmed in Tunisia, shows remains and fins of what appears to be a mako shark, which is also a protected and endangered species.

Remaining Habitat

The principal scientist, explained that many shark populations – white sharks in particular – had declined dramatically in the Mediterranean in the last few decades.

"No other stretch of water is subjected to such fishing pressure as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The impact of industrial fishing has been intensifying... and it's likely that they will vanish in the foreseeable future."

The Mediterranean great whites is now listed as Critically Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

In their latest attempt to locate and research the animals, the team worked in the Strait of Sicily – an area known as a "key remaining habitat" in the Mediterranean for several endangered shark species.

One key aim 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 do this, the researchers used a large amount of chum – including frozen fish parts and 500 litres of fish oil to create a "oil slick" that many sharks can smell from hundreds of metres away.

Despite working for two weeks – chumming the water, taking samples of seawater to look for genetic material and using underwater cameras – the researchers did not manage to find any specimens.

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

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

During their search for living sharks, they also learned that a young great white shark had been captured and killed in a North African fishery – just 20 nautical miles from where they were working.

It is uncertain whether that shark was caught by accident in fishing gear, or if it was deliberately caught.

The team, however, calculates that over forty 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 team, along with regional contacts, are monitoring several fishing ports in the region. Findings shows that endangered sharks are captured, brought to port, and sold in countries including the region.

The regulations safeguarding sharks are complicated. Currently, 24 threatened species have international legal protection – like makos 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 specifies "they must be released alive [where] possible". Those rules do not tackle accidental bycatch and enforcement is variable from country to country.

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 being found in markets.

"It shows that there is life remaining," he said. "And if we can preserve this, there is a possibility of comeback."

The Path Forward

In economically challenged regions in North Africa, fishermen who catch sharks might face the choice of whether to provide for their families, or return a threatened species to the ocean.

"Why would they discard their catch into the sea when they require sustenance for their families?" asked a regional marine biologist. "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 joined forces, "there is hope."

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