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The iconic great white in the Mediterranean Sea are facing a serious threat of extinction, with unlawful fishing practices being a major contributor to their rapid population drop.

This assessment is based on research by scientists, who partnered with an marine preservation group. They note that several critically endangered species – such as the great white – are being sold in ports across Northern African nations.

These sharks are one of more than 20 Mediterranean shark species safeguarded by global treaties, which prohibits to target them or to sell them.

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

Social media clips showing protected sharks being brought dead into North African ports has been confirmed.

A particular clip showed a sizeable great white shark being dragged onto land from a vessel in Algeria. Another, filmed in Tunisia, shows remains and fins of what looks like a protected mako, which is also a species at risk.

Last Shark Stronghold

The principal scientist, clarified that many shark species – great whites especially – had suffered a severe drop in the Mediterranean in the past years.

"No other sea is fished like the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The impact of industrial fishing has been increasing... and it's possible that they will become extinct 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 new mission to track and analyze the animals, the team worked in the Sicilian Strait – an area known as a "key remaining habitat" in the Mediterranean for several threatened shark species.

One key aim of their mission was to deploy a tracking device onto a white shark – something that has remained unachieved in the Mediterranean Sea.

To try this, the researchers used a large amount of bait – including baitfish and a substantial volume of fish oil to create a "fat slick" that many sharks can sense from far off.

Despite working for two weeks – laying bait, sampling for DNA to search for shark DNA and using underwater cameras – the researchers did not manage to find any sharks to tag.

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

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

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

It is not clear whether that shark was accidentally caught in fishing gear, or if it was deliberately caught.

The team, however, calculates 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.

Illegal Shark Trade

The researchers, along with colleagues in North Africa, are keeping watch on multiple ports in the region. Evidence shows that protected sharks are caught, landed and offered for sale in countries including the region.

The protective legislation are complicated. Currently, 24 threatened species have international legal protection – including mako, angel, threshers and hammerheads.

An international agreement states that those species cannot be "retained on board, transhipped, landed, transferred, stored, sold or displayed or offered for sale".

The agreement states "they must be released alive [where] possible". Those rules are not designed for unintentional catch and enforcement is variable from country to country.

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 appearing in trade.

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

Possible Solutions

In less affluent areas in North Africa, fishing communities who catch sharks might face the dilemma of whether to feed their family, or return a threatened species to the ocean.

"Why would they release sharks into the sea when they need food for their children?" asked a scientist. "If you provide alternatives and education in more sustainable fishing, they will not catch white sharks."

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

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