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Great white sharks in the Mediterranean Sea are in danger of disappearing, with poaching being a significant driver to their alarming decline.

This finding is based on investigations carried out by researchers, who worked alongside an international conservation charity. They indicate that some of the most threatened species – like the great white shark – are appearing for sale in ports across North Africa.

Great whites are one of over twenty Mediterranean shark species shielded by international agreements, which makes it illegal to fish for them or to trade them.

However, by observing harbors 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 the single year of 2025.

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

One piece of footage showed a large great white being hauled ashore from a vessel in an Algerian port. Another, recorded in Tunisia, shows heads and fins of what looks like a protected mako, which is also a species at risk.

Remaining Habitat

The principal scientist, explained that many shark species – white sharks in particular – had plummeted in the Mediterranean in the last few decades.

"No other body of water is exploited as heavily as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The consequences of commercial fishing has been growing... and it's plausible that they will go extinct in the near future."

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

In their new mission to locate and research the animals, the team worked in the Strait of Sicily – an area known as a "last stronghold" in the Mediterranean for several sharks at risk.

An important goal of their project was to deploy a tracking device onto a great white – something that has remained unachieved in the Mediterranean Sea.

To try this, the researchers used over three tons of chum – including frozen fish parts and a substantial volume of tuna oil to create a "oil slick" that many sharks can sense from far off.

After two weeks of work – baiting the ocean, sampling for DNA to search for shark DNA and using remote cameras – the researchers were unable to locate any sharks to tag.

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

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

As the team searched for remaining sharks, they also received reports that a young great white shark had been taken in a fishery off North Africa – just not far from where they were working.

It is uncertain whether that shark was accidentally caught in gear, or if it was deliberately caught.

The team, however, believes that more than 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 researchers, along with regional contacts, are keeping watch on multiple ports in the region. Findings shows that endangered sharks are taken and traded in countries including the region.

The rules that protect sharks are complicated. 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 address accidental bycatch and compliance varies from one place to another.

A expert noted that his own research found multiple white sharks on sale. But, he said, there was a paradoxical element of hope 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 preserve this, there is a hope for revival."

What Can Be Done?

In economically challenged regions in North Africa, fishing communities who catch sharks might face the choice of whether to provide for their families, or throw back an endangered shark to the ocean.

"Why would they discard their catch into the sea when they require sustenance for their families?" asked a scientist. "If you provide alternatives and education in more sustainable fishing, they will not catch these sharks."

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

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