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These formidable predators in the Mediterranean Sea are facing a serious threat of extinction, with poaching being a major contributor to their rapid population drop.

This conclusion is based on research by scientists, who worked alongside an international conservation charity. They indicate that some of the most threatened species – like the great white shark – are being sold in fish markets across North Africa.

These sharks are one of over twenty Mediterranean shark species shielded by international agreements, which prohibits to catch them or to offer them for sale.

However, by monitoring fishing ports along the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, investigators discovered that a minimum of forty great white sharks have been slaughtered in that region in 2025 alone.

Footage from social media showing endangered sharks being brought dead into North African ports has been independently verified.

One video showed a large great white being hauled ashore from a fishing boat in an Algerian port. Another, filmed in Tunisia, shows parts of what looks like a mako shark, which is also a species at risk.

Final Refuge

The principal scientist, stated that many shark species – particularly great whites – had declined dramatically in the Mediterranean in recent 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 likely that they will become extinct in the foreseeable future."

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

In their most recent effort to locate and research the animals, the team worked in the waters between Sicily and North Africa – an area known as a "key remaining habitat" in the Mediterranean for several sharks at risk.

An important goal of their mission was to attach a satellite tag onto a 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 scent oil to create a "oil slick" that many sharks can sense from far off.

Despite working for two weeks – chumming the water, 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 blue shark species on their underwater cameras.

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

During their search for living sharks, they also learned that a young great white shark had been caught and killed in a fishery off North Africa – just 20 nautical miles from where they were working.

It is not clear whether that specimen was ensnared unintentionally in fishing gear, or if it was hunted.

The team, however, believes that more than 40 great white sharks have been harvested in that area. "This is a lot for a critically endangered population," the researcher emphasized.

Protected Sharks Traded

The researchers, along with colleagues in North Africa, are keeping watch on multiple ports in the region. Findings shows that protected sharks are taken and traded in countries including several North African nations.

The regulations safeguarding sharks are complex. Currently, numerous species have global protection – such as makos, angel sharks, threshers, and hammerheads.

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

The agreement states "they must be released unharmed and alive [where] possible". Those rules do not tackle unintentional catch and compliance varies from one place to another.

A expert 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 life remaining," he said. "And if we can preserve this, there is a chance of recovery."

What Can Be Done?

In less affluent areas in North Africa, fishermen who catch sharks might face the decision of whether to provide for their families, or return a threatened species to the ocean.

"Why would they discard their catch into the sea when they must feed their households?" asked a local expert. "If you assist and guide them in more sustainable fishing, they will not catch protected species."

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

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