🔗 Share this article These Apex Predators Face Extinction in the Mediterranean Sea, Scientists Report The iconic great white in the Mediterranean Sea are facing a serious threat of extinction, with unlawful fishing practices being a key factor to their worrying decrease. This assessment is based on research by scientists, who collaborated with an international conservation charity. They indicate that several critically endangered species – such as the great white – are found on sale in marketplaces across the North African coast. Great white sharks are one of more than 20 Mediterranean shark species safeguarded by global treaties, which renders it unlawful to fish for them or to offer them for sale. However, by observing harbors along the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, the research team uncovered that at least 40 great white sharks have been slaughtered in that region in 2025 alone. Conservationists and scientists say they have observed endangered species for sale in ports in North Africa. Videos shared online showing sharks under protection being landed at North African ports has been authenticated. One piece of footage showed a large great white being hauled ashore from a trawler in an Algerian port. A separate video, taken in a Tunisian location, shows heads and fins of what looks like a protected mako, which is also a species at risk. Last Shark Stronghold The scientific team worked from a boat in the area near Sicily. The lead researcher, explained that many shark species – great whites especially – had suffered a severe drop in the Mediterranean in the last few decades. "No other sea is exploited as heavily as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The consequences of commercial fishing has been growing... and it's likely that they will become extinct in the foreseeable future." The Mediterranean great whites is now designated as Critically Endangered by the global conservation union. In their most recent effort to track and analyze the predators, the team worked in the Sicilian Strait – an area known as a "final refuge" in the Mediterranean for several threatened shark species. One key aim of their mission was to deploy a tracking device onto a white shark – something that has remained unachieved in the Mediterranean Sea. To do this, the researchers used over three tons of chum – including baitfish and hundreds of liters of scent oil to create a "fat slick" that many sharks can detect from a great distance. Despite working for two weeks – baiting the ocean, collecting water samples to look for genetic material and using remote cameras – the researchers failed to encounter any animals to tag. They captured only a short sighting of one blue shark on their submarine cameras. "It's discouraging," the lead researcher said. "It just shows how degraded this habitat is." While the team was searching for surviving sharks, they also were informed that a juvenile great white had been captured and killed in a fishery off North Africa – 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 targeted. 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. Sharks for Sale An investigation in Tunisia in 2023 discovered endangered sharks being sold. The researchers, along with colleagues in North Africa, are observing various harbors in the region. Evidence shows that protected sharks are caught, landed and offered for sale in countries including Tunisia and Algeria. The regulations safeguarding sharks are complicated. Currently, two dozen endangered species have international legal protection – 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 country to country. The researchers used special cameras to look for sharks. A conservationist noted that his own research found several great whites 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 possibility of comeback." What Can Be Done? In economically challenged regions in North Africa, fishers who catch sharks might face the decision of whether to provide for their families, or throw back an endangered shark to the ocean. "Why would they release sharks into the sea when they need food for their children?" asked a scientist. "If you provide alternatives and education in more sustainable fishing, they will not catch white sharks." An advocate added that if countries around the Mediterranean collaborated, "there is hope." "But," he stated, "we've got to act very quickly."