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Great white sharks in the Mediterranean basin are in danger of disappearing, with unlawful fishing practices being a significant driver to their worrying decrease.

This finding is based on research by scientists, who collaborated with an ocean protection organization. They report that some of the most threatened species – like the great white shark – are found on sale in fish markets across the North African coast.

Great white sharks are one of over twenty Mediterranean shark species protected under international law, which renders it unlawful to catch them or to trade them.

However, by observing harbors along the coastline of North Africa, scientists discovered that at least 40 great white sharks have been caught and killed there in just the past year.

Videos shared online showing endangered sharks being unloaded in North African ports has been authenticated.

A particular clip showed a big shark being dragged onto land from a vessel in Algeria. A separate video, recorded in Tunisia, shows remains and fins of what is believed to be a protected mako, which is also a protected and endangered species.

Final Refuge

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

"No other sea is exploited as heavily as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The impact of industrial fishing has been intensifying... and it's possible that they will become extinct in the near future."

The population of great whites in the Mediterranean is now listed as Critically Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

In their latest attempt to track and analyze the animals, the team worked in the waters between Sicily and North Africa – an area identified as a "final refuge" in the Mediterranean for several endangered shark species.

An important goal of their mission was to fit a satellite tracking tag onto a white shark – something that has never been done in the Mediterranean Sea.

To try this, the researchers used more than three tonnes of bait – including frozen mackerel and tuna scraps and a substantial volume of tuna oil to create a "oil slick" that many sharks can smell from hundreds of metres away.

Despite working for two weeks – chumming the water, sampling for DNA to test for environmental DNA and using subsea cameras – the researchers did not manage to find any specimens.

They captured only a brief glimpse of one shark on their underwater cameras.

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

While the team was searching for remaining sharks, they also learned that a small great white had been captured and killed in a North African fishery – just a short distance from where they were working.

It is not clear whether that specimen was accidentally caught in fishing gear, or if it was targeted.

The team, however, estimates that over forty great white sharks have been caught around that coast. "This is a lot for a critically endangered population," the researcher emphasized.

Protected Sharks Traded

The scientists, along with regional contacts, are keeping watch on multiple ports in the region. Documentation shows that protected sharks are taken and traded in countries including the region.

The rules that protect sharks are complex. Currently, two dozen endangered species have international legal protection – like makos 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 specifies "they must be returned to the sea alive [where] possible". Those rules do not tackle unintentional catch and enforcement is variable from nation to nation.

A expert noted that his own research found a number of sharks on sale. But, he said, there was a seeming silver lining in the fact that white sharks were turning up for sale.

"It shows that there is life remaining," he said. "And if we can protect this, there is a possibility of comeback."

The Path Forward

In less affluent areas in North Africa, fishermen who catch sharks might face the choice of whether to feed their family, or throw back an endangered shark 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 assist and guide them in more selective fishing, they will not catch these sharks."

An advocate added that if countries around the Mediterranean joined forces, "there is hope."

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