Great White Sharks Risk Extinction in the Mediterranean Sea, Scientists Warn

These formidable predators in the Mediterranean basin are on the verge of vanishing, with illegal fishing being a key factor to their worrying decrease.

This assessment is based on investigations carried out by researchers, who worked alongside an marine preservation group. They note that several critically endangered species – like the great white shark – are appearing for sale in marketplaces across the North African coast.

These sharks are one of more than 20 Mediterranean shark species protected under international law, which prohibits to fish for them or to trade them.

However, by monitoring fishing ports along the coastline of North Africa, the research team found that at least 40 great white sharks have been caught and killed there in the single year of 2025.

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

One video showed a sizeable great white shark being dragged onto land from a trawler in an Algerian port. Additional footage, recorded in Tunisia, shows parts of what is believed to be a mako shark, which is also a protected and endangered species.

Last Shark Stronghold

The lead researcher, explained that many shark populations – white sharks in particular – had suffered a severe drop in the Mediterranean in recent decades.

"No other sea is fished like the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The consequences of commercial fishing has been increasing... and it's plausible that they will vanish in the near future."

The Mediterranean great whites is now listed as Critically Endangered by the key international body.

In their new mission to find and study the predators, the team worked in the Sicilian Strait – an area identified as a "key remaining habitat" in the Mediterranean for several threatened shark species.

An important goal of their mission was to attach a satellite tag onto a shark – something that has not yet been accomplished in the Mediterranean Sea.

To attempt this, the researchers used a large amount of bait – including baitfish and a substantial volume of fish oil to create a "fat slick" that many sharks can sense from far off.

Even after a fortnight of effort – laying bait, collecting water samples to look for genetic material and using underwater cameras – the researchers were unable to locate any sharks to tag.

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

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

While the team was searching for surviving sharks, they also received reports that a small great white had been captured and killed in a regional fishery – just a short distance from where they were working.

It is unknown whether that specimen was ensnared unintentionally in nets or lines, or if it was targeted.

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

Illegal Shark Trade

The researchers, along with local partners, are monitoring several fishing ports in the region. Documentation shows that protected sharks are caught, landed and offered for sale in countries including several North African nations.

The rules that protect sharks are complicated. Currently, numerous species have treaty-based safeguards – like makos and hammerheads.

An regional treaty states that those species cannot be "kept on boats, transferred, landed, stored, or sold".

The agreement states "they must be returned to the sea alive [where] possible". Those rules are not designed for incidental capture and enforcement is variable from one place to another.

A conservationist noted that his own investigation found several great whites on sale. But, he said, there was a unexpected hopeful sign in the fact that white sharks were turning up for sale.

"It shows that there is animals still there," 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, fishing communities who catch sharks might face the choice of whether to earn a livelihood, or release a protected animal to the ocean.

"Why would they throw sharks back into the sea when they need food for their children?" asked a regional marine biologist. "If you provide alternatives and education in more selective fishing, they will not catch these sharks."

A conservationist added that if countries around the Mediterranean worked together, "there is hope."

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