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These formidable predators in the Mediterranean Sea are facing a serious threat of extinction, with poaching being a significant driver to their alarming decline.

This assessment is based on research by scientists, who worked alongside an international conservation charity. They note that some of the most threatened species – including great white sharks – are being sold in marketplaces across the North African coast.

Great whites are one of in excess of 20 Mediterranean shark species safeguarded by global treaties, which prohibits to catch them or to trade them.

However, by observing harbors along the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, scientists uncovered 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 landed at North African ports has been independently verified.

One video showed a sizeable great white shark being dragged onto land from a fishing boat in an Algerian port. Another, taken in a Tunisian location, shows parts of what appears to be a mako shark, which is also a species at risk.

Remaining Habitat

The project head, explained that many populations of sharks – particularly great whites – had declined dramatically in the Mediterranean in the past years.

"No other body of water is subjected to such fishing pressure as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The effects of large-scale fishing has been increasing... and it's plausible that they will go extinct in the foreseeable future."

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

In their new mission to track and analyze the animals, the team worked in the waters between Sicily and North Africa – an area identified as a "final refuge" in the Mediterranean for several threatened shark species.

A primary objective of their mission was to deploy a tracking device onto a great white – something that has not yet been accomplished in the Mediterranean Sea.

To do this, the researchers used more than three tonnes of fish bait – including baitfish and a substantial volume of tuna oil to create a "scent trail" that many sharks can smell from hundreds of metres away.

Even after a fortnight of effort – baiting the ocean, sampling for DNA to look for genetic material and using underwater cameras – the researchers were unable to locate any animals to tag.

They captured only a fleeting sighting of one shark on their submarine cameras.

"It's disappointing," the lead researcher said. "It just shows how degraded this ecosystem is."

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

It is unknown whether that specimen was ensnared unintentionally in gear, or if it was targeted.

The team, however, believes 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.

Illegal Shark Trade

The team, along with regional contacts, are monitoring several fishing ports in the region. Evidence shows that sharks under protection are captured, brought to port, and sold in countries including several North African nations.

The rules that protect sharks are complex. Currently, two dozen endangered species have global 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 mandates "they must be released unharmed and alive [where] possible". Those rules do not address incidental capture and compliance varies from one place to another.

A marine advocate noted that his own investigation found multiple white 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 protect this, there is a hope for revival."

What Can Be Done?

In economically challenged regions in North Africa, fishing communities who catch sharks might face the decision 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 need food for their children?" asked a regional marine biologist. "If you provide alternatives and education in more selective fishing, they will not catch white sharks."

Another expert added that if countries around the Mediterranean joined forces, "there is hope."

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