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These formidable predators in the Mediterranean Sea are in danger of disappearing, with illegal fishing being a significant driver to their worrying decrease.

This assessment is based on investigations carried out by researchers, who worked alongside an ocean protection organization. They note that some of the most threatened species – like the great white shark – are found on sale in ports across Northern African nations.

Great whites are one of in excess of 20 Mediterranean shark species shielded by international agreements, which makes it illegal to target them or to trade them.

However, by monitoring fishing ports along the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, the research team found that at least 40 great white sharks have been caught and killed there in the single year of 2025.

Videos shared online showing endangered sharks being unloaded in North African ports has been authenticated.

A particular clip showed a large great white being dragged onto land from a trawler in an Algerian port. Another, filmed in Tunisia, shows parts of what appears to be a protected mako, which is also a protected and endangered species.

Remaining Habitat

The lead researcher, stated that many shark species – particularly great whites – had plummeted in the Mediterranean in the last few decades.

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

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

In their most recent effort to find and study the sharks, the team worked in the Strait of Sicily – an area identified as a "last stronghold" in the Mediterranean for several threatened shark species.

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

To try this, the researchers used over three tons of bait – including frozen fish parts and hundreds of liters of fish oil to create a "oil slick" that many sharks can sense from far off.

After two weeks of work – laying bait, collecting water samples to look for genetic material and using remote cameras – the researchers did not manage to find any sharks to tag.

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

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

As the team searched for remaining sharks, they also received reports that a juvenile great white had been taken in a regional fishery – just not far from where they were working.

It is not clear whether that specimen was caught by accident in nets or lines, or if it was deliberately caught.

The team, however, calculates that over forty 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 colleagues in North Africa, are observing various harbors in the region. Evidence shows that protected sharks are captured, brought to port, and sold in countries including Tunisia and Algeria.

The rules that protect sharks are complex. Currently, numerous 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 released alive [where] possible". Those rules are not designed for accidental bycatch and compliance varies from nation to nation.

A conservationist 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 appearing in trade.

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

Possible Solutions

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

"Why would they throw sharks back into the sea when they need food for their children?" asked a local expert. "If you provide alternatives and education 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 stated, "we've got to act very quickly."