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The iconic great white in the Mediterranean Sea are on the verge of vanishing, with poaching being a major contributor to their alarming decline.

This assessment is based on research by scientists, who worked alongside an international conservation charity. They report that some of the most threatened species – including great white sharks – are being sold in marketplaces 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 target them or to offer them for sale.

However, by observing harbors along the North African Mediterranean shoreline, the research team found that at least 40 great white sharks have been killed there in the single year of 2025.

Social media clips showing endangered sharks being brought dead into North African ports has been independently verified.

One video showed a big shark being dragged onto land from a trawler in an Algerian port. Another, taken in a Tunisian location, shows remains and fins of what appears to be a short-finned mako shark, which is also a protected and endangered species.

Final Refuge

The lead researcher, clarified that many shark populations – great whites especially – had plummeted in the Mediterranean in the last few decades.

"No other sea is fished like the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The impact of industrial fishing has been intensifying... and it's likely that they will vanish in the coming years."

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

In their latest attempt to track and analyze the animals, the team worked in the Strait of Sicily – an area considered a "last stronghold" in the Mediterranean for several endangered shark species.

One key aim of their project was to fit a satellite tracking tag onto a white shark – something that has remained unachieved in the Mediterranean Sea.

To do this, the researchers used a large amount of bait – including baitfish and a substantial volume of fish oil to create a "oil slick" that many sharks can detect from a great distance.

Despite working for two weeks – laying bait, sampling for DNA to look for genetic material and using subsea cameras – the researchers were unable to locate any sharks to tag.

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

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

As the team searched for living sharks, they also received reports that a small great white had been caught and killed in a fishery off North Africa – just not far from where they were working.

It is not clear whether that animal was accidentally caught in gear, or if it was deliberately caught.

The team, however, believes that in excess of 40 great white sharks have been caught around that coast. "This is a lot for a critically endangered population," the researcher emphasized.

Sharks for Sale

The scientists, along with regional contacts, are monitoring several fishing ports in the region. Documentation shows that sharks under protection are taken and traded in countries including the region.

The regulations safeguarding sharks are complex. Currently, 24 threatened species have global protection – like makos 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 specifies "they must be returned to the sea alive [where] possible". Those rules are not designed for incidental capture and implementation differs from one place to another.

A marine advocate noted that his own inquiry found multiple white sharks on sale. But, he said, there was a seeming silver lining in the fact that white sharks were being found in markets.

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

Possible Solutions

In economically challenged regions in North Africa, fishing communities who catch sharks might face the dilemma of whether to earn a livelihood, or return a threatened species to the ocean.

"Why would they throw sharks back into the sea when they require sustenance for their families?" asked a local expert. "If you assist and guide them in more responsible fishing, they will not catch white sharks."

Another expert added that if countries around the Mediterranean worked together, "there is hope."

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