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The iconic great white in the Mediterranean waters are in danger of disappearing, with poaching being a key factor to their rapid population drop.

This finding is based on research by scientists, who collaborated with an ocean protection organization. They report that some of the most threatened species – including great white sharks – are being sold in marketplaces across North Africa.

Great whites are one of over twenty Mediterranean shark species shielded by international agreements, which prohibits to target them or to offer them for sale.

However, by surveying docks along the North African Mediterranean shoreline, 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 sharks under protection being unloaded in North African ports has been authenticated.

One piece of footage showed a large great white 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 protected and endangered species.

Remaining Habitat

The principal scientist, clarified that many shark species – particularly great whites – had declined dramatically in the Mediterranean in the last few decades.

"No other sea is subjected to such fishing pressure as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The effects of large-scale fishing has been growing... and it's plausible that they will vanish in the near future."

The Mediterranean white shark population is now listed as Critically Endangered by the key international body.

In their latest attempt to find and study the animals, the team worked in the Sicilian Strait – an area known as a "final refuge" in the Mediterranean for several threatened shark species.

One key aim of their expedition was to deploy a tracking device onto a great white – something that has never been done in the Mediterranean Sea.

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

Even after a fortnight of effort – chumming the water, taking samples of seawater to search for shark DNA and using underwater cameras – the researchers did not manage to find any animals to tag.

They captured only a brief glimpse of one shark on their underwater cameras.

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

As the team searched for surviving sharks, they also were informed that a juvenile great white had been taken 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 hunted.

The team, however, believes that in excess of 40 great white sharks have been taken along that coastline. "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 endangered sharks are captured, brought to port, and sold in countries including Tunisia and Algeria.

The regulations safeguarding sharks are complicated. Currently, numerous species have international legal protection – like makos and hammerheads.

An multinational pact 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 accidental bycatch and compliance varies from nation to nation.

A expert noted that his own investigation found multiple white sharks on sale. But, he said, there was a seeming silver lining 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, fishers who catch sharks might face the decision of whether to feed their family, or return a threatened species to the ocean.

"Why would they discard their catch into the sea when they require sustenance for their families?" asked a scientist. "If you provide alternatives and education in more responsible fishing, they will not catch these sharks."

An advocate added that if countries around the Mediterranean worked together, "there is hope."

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