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

This assessment is based on studies conducted by experts, who worked alongside an international conservation charity. They note that some of the most threatened species – including great white sharks – are being sold in ports across North Africa.

Great whites are one of over twenty Mediterranean shark species protected under international law, which prohibits to target them or to offer them for sale.

However, by surveying docks along the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, investigators found that a minimum of forty great white sharks have been caught and killed there in just the past year.

Videos shared online showing endangered sharks being brought dead into North African ports has been independently verified.

One video showed a big shark being pulled from a boat from a vessel in an Algerian port. Additional footage, taken in a Tunisian location, shows heads and fins of what appears to be a protected mako, which is also a protected and endangered species.

Remaining Habitat

The project head, stated that many shark populations – white sharks in particular – had declined dramatically in the Mediterranean in recent decades.

"No other stretch of water is exploited as heavily as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The impact of industrial fishing has been intensifying... and it's plausible that they will vanish in the coming years."

The population of great whites in the Mediterranean is now classified as Critically Endangered by the key international body.

In their latest attempt to track and analyze the sharks, the team worked in the Strait of Sicily – an area considered a "last stronghold" in the Mediterranean for several sharks at risk.

An important goal of their expedition was to deploy a tracking device onto a shark – something that has not yet been accomplished in the Mediterranean Sea.

To try this, the researchers used over three tons of fish bait – including frozen fish parts and a substantial volume of fish oil to create a "scent trail" that many sharks can detect from a great distance.

Despite working for two weeks – laying bait, taking samples of seawater to look for genetic material and using subsea cameras – the researchers did not manage to find any specimens.

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

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

While the team was searching for surviving sharks, they also learned that a small great white had been caught and killed in a regional fishery – just 20 nautical miles from where they were working.

It is uncertain whether that animal was ensnared unintentionally in gear, or if it was deliberately caught.

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

The team, along with regional contacts, are monitoring several fishing ports in the region. Findings shows that protected sharks are captured, brought to port, and sold in countries including Tunisia and Algeria.

The rules that protect sharks are complicated. Currently, numerous species have international legal protection – including mako, angel, threshers and hammerheads.

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

The agreement mandates "they must be returned to the sea alive [where] possible". Those rules are not designed for accidental bycatch and implementation differs from one place to another.

A expert noted that his own research found multiple white sharks 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 safeguard this, there is a possibility of comeback."

The Path Forward

In economically challenged regions in North Africa, fishers who catch sharks might face the decision of whether to feed their family, or return a threatened species to the ocean.

"Why would they release sharks into the sea when they must feed their households?" asked a regional marine biologist. "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 collaborated, "there is hope."

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