Great White Sharks Are on the Brink of Vanishing in the Mediterranean, Experts Report

Great white sharks in the Mediterranean basin are on the verge of vanishing, with unlawful fishing practices being a major contributor to their worrying decrease.

This finding is based on studies conducted by experts, who collaborated with an marine preservation group. They report that various at-risk marine animals – like the great white shark – are found on sale in fish markets across North Africa.

Great whites are one of in excess of 20 Mediterranean shark species shielded by international agreements, which renders it unlawful to fish for them or to offer them for sale.

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

Footage from social media showing endangered sharks being brought dead into North African ports has been independently verified.

One video showed a sizeable great white shark being dragged onto land from a trawler in an Algerian port. A separate video, taken in a Tunisian location, shows heads and fins of what looks like a short-finned mako shark, which is also a threatened and protected species.

Final Refuge

The lead researcher, explained that many shark species – white sharks in particular – had suffered a severe drop in the Mediterranean in recent decades.

"No other body of water is exploited as heavily as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The impact of industrial fishing has been growing... and it's likely that they will become extinct in the coming years."

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

In their new mission to find and study the animals, the team worked in the waters between Sicily and North Africa – an area considered a "key remaining habitat" in the Mediterranean for several endangered shark species.

An important goal of their mission was to attach a satellite tag onto a great white – something that has remained unachieved in the Mediterranean Sea.

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

After two weeks of work – baiting the ocean, sampling for DNA to search for shark DNA and using remote cameras – the researchers did not manage to find any animals to tag.

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

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

While the team was searching for remaining sharks, they also learned that a small great white had been caught and killed in a regional fishery – just a short distance from where they were working.

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

The team, however, believes that in excess of 40 great white sharks have been caught around that coast. "This is a lot for a critically endangered population," the researcher emphasized.

Sharks for Sale

The team, along with colleagues in North Africa, are monitoring several fishing ports in the region. Evidence shows that sharks under protection are taken and traded in countries including several North African nations.

The rules that protect sharks are complicated. Currently, 24 threatened species have global protection – like makos 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 returned to the sea alive [where] possible". Those rules do not address unintentional catch and implementation differs from nation to nation.

A marine advocate noted that his own inquiry found multiple white sharks on sale. But, he said, there was a paradoxical element of hope in the fact that white sharks were appearing in trade.

"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 poorer communities in North Africa, fishing communities who catch sharks might face the decision of whether to earn a livelihood, or return a threatened species to the ocean.

"Why would they discard their catch into the sea when they must feed their households?" asked a local expert. "If you support them and train them in more sustainable fishing, they will not catch these 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."