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Great white sharks in the Mediterranean Sea are facing a serious threat of extinction, with poaching being a major contributor to their alarming decline.

This conclusion is based on research by scientists, who partnered with an marine preservation group. They note that various at-risk marine animals – including great white sharks – are appearing for sale in ports across Northern African nations.

These sharks are one of in excess of 20 Mediterranean shark species safeguarded by global treaties, which makes it illegal to fish for them or to sell them.

However, by observing harbors along the North African Mediterranean shoreline, the research team discovered that a minimum of forty great white sharks have been caught and killed there in the single year of 2025.

Social media clips showing endangered sharks being unloaded in North African ports has been authenticated.

A particular clip showed a large great white being pulled from a boat from a trawler in an Algerian port. Another, taken in a Tunisian location, shows remains and fins of what appears to be a protected mako, which is also a protected and endangered species.

Remaining Habitat

The lead researcher, clarified that many populations of sharks – particularly great whites – had suffered a severe drop in the Mediterranean in recent decades.

"No other body of water is fished like the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The impact of industrial fishing has been increasing... and it's plausible that they will go extinct in the coming years."

The Mediterranean white shark population is now classified as Critically Endangered by the global conservation union.

In their new mission to find and study the predators, the team worked in the waters between Sicily and North Africa – an area identified as a "key remaining habitat" in the Mediterranean for several sharks at risk.

One key aim of their mission was to deploy a tracking device onto a great white – something that has not yet been accomplished in the Mediterranean Sea.

To do this, the researchers used a large amount of chum – including frozen mackerel and tuna scraps and a substantial volume of scent oil to create a "oil slick" that many sharks can smell from hundreds of metres away.

After two weeks of work – laying bait, 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 blue shark on their submarine cameras.

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

During their search for living sharks, they also were informed that a small great white had been caught and killed in a fishery off North Africa – just 20 nautical miles from where they were working.

It is unknown whether that shark was caught by accident in gear, or if it was targeted.

The team, however, believes that more than 40 great white sharks have been taken along that coastline. "This is a lot for a critically endangered population," the researcher emphasized.

Sharks for Sale

The team, along with local partners, are keeping watch on multiple ports in the region. Findings shows that protected sharks are captured, brought to port, and sold in countries including Tunisia and Algeria.

The rules that protect sharks are complicated. Currently, numerous species have global 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 mandates "they must be released unharmed and alive [where] possible". Those rules do not address unintentional catch and implementation differs from one place to another.

A conservationist 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 being found in markets.

"It shows that there is animals still there," he said. "And if we can preserve this, there is a hope for revival."

The Path Forward

In economically challenged regions in North Africa, fishermen who catch sharks might face the decision of whether to earn a livelihood, or throw back an endangered shark to the ocean.

"Why would they release sharks into the sea when they must feed their households?" asked a scientist. "If you provide alternatives and education in more responsible fishing, they will not catch white sharks."

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

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