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These formidable predators in the Mediterranean basin are facing a serious threat of extinction, with illegal fishing being a significant driver to their rapid population drop.

This assessment is based on investigations carried out by researchers, who collaborated with an marine preservation group. They indicate that various at-risk marine animals – including great white sharks – are found on sale in marketplaces across the North African coast.

These sharks are one of more than 20 Mediterranean shark species shielded by international agreements, which renders it unlawful to catch them or to trade them.

However, by surveying docks along the coastline of North Africa, investigators uncovered that no fewer than 40 great white sharks have been killed there in just the past year.

Videos shared online showing protected sharks being brought dead into North African ports has been authenticated.

One piece of footage showed a large great white being dragged onto land from a vessel in Algeria. Another, filmed in Tunisia, shows parts of what is believed to be a short-finned mako shark, which is also a threatened and protected species.

Last Shark Stronghold

The principal scientist, clarified that many shark populations – white sharks in particular – had plummeted in the Mediterranean in the past years.

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

The population of great whites in the Mediterranean is now classified as Critically Endangered by the global conservation union.

In their latest attempt to locate and research the sharks, the team worked in the waters between Sicily and North Africa – an area known as a "key remaining habitat" in the Mediterranean for several threatened shark species.

A primary objective of their project was to attach a satellite tag onto a white shark – something that has never been done in the Mediterranean Sea.

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

Even after a fortnight of effort – chumming the water, sampling for DNA to test for environmental DNA and using subsea cameras – the researchers were unable to locate any animals to tag.

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

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

As the team searched for living sharks, they also received reports that a young great white shark had been taken in a fishery off North Africa – just 20 nautical miles from where they were working.

It is uncertain whether that specimen was accidentally caught in nets or lines, or if it was deliberately caught.

The team, however, calculates that in excess of 40 great white sharks have been taken along that coastline. "This is a lot for a critically endangered population," the researcher emphasized.

Sharks for Sale

The scientists, along with colleagues in North Africa, are observing various harbors in the region. Documentation shows that sharks under protection are captured, brought to port, and sold in countries including the region.

The regulations safeguarding sharks are multifaceted. Currently, 24 threatened species have global protection – including mako, angel, threshers and hammerheads.

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

The agreement states "they must be released alive [where] possible". Those rules do not tackle incidental capture and compliance varies from country to country.

A marine advocate noted that his own research found several great whites on sale. But, he said, there was a unexpected hopeful sign in the fact that white sharks were appearing in trade.

"It shows that there is life remaining," he said. "And if we can safeguard this, there is a hope for revival."

The Path Forward

In economically challenged regions in North Africa, fishermen who catch sharks might face the choice of whether to provide for their families, or release a protected animal to the ocean.

"Why would they release sharks into the sea when they need food for their children?" asked a regional marine biologist. "If you provide alternatives and education in more responsible fishing, they will not catch these sharks."

A conservationist added that if countries around the Mediterranean worked together, "there is hope."

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