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The iconic great white in the Mediterranean basin are facing a serious threat of extinction, with illegal fishing being a major contributor to their worrying decrease.

This conclusion is based on investigations carried out by researchers, who worked alongside an marine preservation group. They note that some of the most threatened species – such as the great white – are appearing for sale in ports across Northern African nations.

These sharks are one of in excess of 20 Mediterranean shark species shielded by international agreements, which renders it unlawful to fish for them or to trade them.

However, by surveying docks along the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, scientists uncovered that at least 40 great white sharks have been killed there in the single year of 2025.

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

One piece of footage showed a large great white being hauled ashore from a trawler in an Algerian port. A separate video, taken in a Tunisian location, shows heads and fins of what is believed to be a protected mako, which is also a threatened and protected species.

Final Refuge

The lead researcher, stated that many shark species – great whites especially – had plummeted 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 likely that they will vanish in the near future."

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

In their new mission to locate and research the predators, the team worked in the waters between Sicily and North Africa – an area considered a "last stronghold" in the Mediterranean for several sharks at risk.

One key aim of their expedition was to attach a satellite tag onto a shark – something that has never been done in the Mediterranean Sea.

To try this, the researchers used more than three tonnes of fish bait – including frozen mackerel and tuna scraps and 500 litres of scent oil to create a "oil slick" that many sharks can smell from hundreds of metres away.

Even after a fortnight of effort – chumming the water, sampling for DNA to search for shark DNA and using remote cameras – the researchers failed to encounter any specimens.

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

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

As the team searched for surviving sharks, they also received reports that a small great white had been taken in a fishery off North Africa – just 20 nautical miles from where they were working.

It is unknown whether that specimen was caught by accident in nets or lines, or if it was targeted.

The team, however, calculates that over forty great white sharks have been caught around that coast. "This is a lot for a critically endangered population," the researcher emphasized.

Protected Sharks Traded

The scientists, along with local partners, are keeping watch on multiple ports in the region. Findings shows that endangered sharks are caught, landed and offered for sale in countries including several North African nations.

The regulations safeguarding sharks are complex. Currently, 24 threatened species have treaty-based safeguards – such as makos, angel sharks, threshers, and hammerheads.

An regional treaty 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 incidental capture and enforcement is variable from nation to nation.

A expert noted that his own research found a number of sharks on sale. But, he said, there was a unexpected hopeful sign in the fact that white sharks were appearing in trade.

"It shows that there is life remaining," he said. "And if we can safeguard this, there is a chance of recovery."

What Can Be Done?

In less affluent areas in North Africa, fishers who catch sharks might face the dilemma of whether to provide for their families, or throw back an endangered shark to the ocean.

"Why would they release sharks into the sea when they require sustenance for their families?" asked a regional marine biologist. "If you provide alternatives and education in more responsible fishing, they will not catch protected species."

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

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