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Great white sharks in the Mediterranean waters are on the verge of vanishing, with poaching being a significant driver to their alarming decline.

This finding is based on studies conducted by experts, who partnered with an international conservation charity. They report that various at-risk marine animals – such as the great white – are found on sale in fish markets across the North African coast.

Great whites are one of more than 20 Mediterranean shark species protected under international law, which prohibits to fish for them or to offer them for sale.

However, by monitoring fishing ports along the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, the research team uncovered that no fewer than 40 great white sharks have been slaughtered in that region in 2025 alone.

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

One piece of footage showed a large great white being dragged onto land from a fishing boat in Algeria. Another, recorded in Tunisia, shows heads and fins of what is believed to be a short-finned mako shark, which is also a threatened and protected species.

Last Shark Stronghold

The project head, explained that many populations of sharks – great whites especially – had plummeted in the Mediterranean in the last few decades.

"No other sea is subjected to such fishing pressure as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The impact of industrial fishing has been increasing... and it's possible that they will vanish in the foreseeable future."

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

In their most recent effort to find and study the animals, the team worked in the Sicilian Strait – an area considered a "key remaining habitat" in the Mediterranean for several threatened shark species.

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

To attempt this, the researchers used a large amount of chum – including baitfish and a substantial volume of tuna 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 look for genetic material and using remote cameras – the researchers were unable to locate any sharks to tag.

They captured only a fleeting sighting of one blue shark species on their submarine cameras.

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

While the team was searching for remaining sharks, they also learned that a juvenile great white had been captured and killed in a North African fishery – just not far from where they were working.

It is unknown whether that animal was caught by accident in fishing gear, or if it was deliberately caught.

The team, however, estimates that over forty 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 taken and traded in countries including Tunisia and Algeria.

The protective legislation are complicated. Currently, numerous species have international legal protection – such as makos, angel sharks, 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 enforcement is variable from one place to another.

A expert noted that his own research 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 earn a livelihood, or return a threatened species to the ocean.

"Why would they release sharks into the sea when they require sustenance for their families?" asked a regional marine biologist. "If you provide alternatives and education in more sustainable fishing, they will not catch protected species."

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

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