Great White Sharks Face Disappearing in the Mediterranean, Researchers Warn

These formidable predators in the Mediterranean waters are on the verge of vanishing, with unlawful fishing practices being a significant driver to their rapid population drop.

This finding is based on studies conducted by experts, who partnered with an international conservation charity. They report that several critically endangered species – including great white sharks – are found on sale in marketplaces across North Africa.

Great whites are one of more than 20 Mediterranean shark species shielded by international agreements, which renders it unlawful to fish for them or to trade them.

However, by observing harbors along the North African Mediterranean shoreline, investigators discovered that at least 40 great white sharks have been killed there in 2025 alone.

Social media clips showing protected sharks being landed at North African ports has been independently verified.

One video showed a big shark being dragged onto land from a vessel in an Algerian port. Another, filmed in Tunisia, shows remains and fins of what is believed to be a protected mako, which is also a protected and endangered species.

Final Refuge

The lead researcher, stated that many populations of sharks – white sharks in particular – had declined dramatically in the Mediterranean in the last few decades.

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

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

In their latest attempt to track and analyze the predators, the team worked in the Strait of Sicily – an area considered a "final refuge" in the Mediterranean for several sharks at risk.

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

To do this, the researchers used over three tons of chum – including frozen mackerel and tuna scraps and hundreds of liters of tuna oil to create a "scent trail" that many sharks can sense from far off.

Despite working for two weeks – baiting the ocean, taking samples of seawater to test for environmental DNA and using subsea cameras – the researchers failed to encounter any animals to tag.

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

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

While the team was searching for surviving sharks, they also received reports that a young great white shark had been captured and killed in a fishery off North Africa – just not far from where they were working.

It is unknown whether that animal was ensnared unintentionally in gear, or if it was deliberately caught.

The team, however, estimates that over forty great white sharks have been harvested in that area. "This is a lot for a critically endangered population," the researcher emphasized.

Sharks for Sale

The researchers, along with regional contacts, 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 protective legislation are complex. Currently, two dozen endangered species have international legal protection – such as makos, angel sharks, threshers, and hammerheads.

An multinational pact 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 alive [where] possible". Those rules do not tackle unintentional catch and enforcement is variable from country to country.

A expert noted that his own inquiry found several great whites on sale. But, he said, there was a unexpected hopeful sign in the fact that white sharks were being found in markets.

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

The Path Forward

In economically challenged regions in North Africa, fishing communities who catch sharks might face the choice of whether to feed their family, or release a protected animal to the ocean.

"Why would they throw sharks back into the sea when they must feed their households?" asked a local expert. "If you assist and guide them in more selective fishing, they will not catch white sharks."

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

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