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The iconic great white in the Mediterranean Sea are on the verge of vanishing, with illegal fishing being a key factor to their alarming decline.

This assessment is based on studies conducted by experts, who collaborated with an international conservation charity. They report that several critically endangered species – including great white sharks – are appearing for sale in fish markets across Northern African nations.

These sharks are one of more than 20 Mediterranean shark species protected under international law, which renders it unlawful to catch them or to sell them.

However, by surveying docks along the North African Mediterranean shoreline, scientists uncovered that no fewer than 40 great white sharks have been caught and killed there in just the past year.

Social media clips showing sharks under protection being brought dead into North African ports has been confirmed.

A particular clip showed a big shark being pulled from a boat from a fishing boat in Algeria. A separate video, taken in a Tunisian location, shows heads and fins of what is believed to be a mako shark, which is also a threatened and protected species.

Last Shark Stronghold

The principal scientist, clarified that many populations of sharks – particularly great whites – had plummeted in the Mediterranean in recent decades.

"No other sea is fished like the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The impact of industrial fishing has been growing... and it's likely that they will vanish in the foreseeable future."

The Mediterranean great whites is now designated as Critically Endangered by the global conservation union.

In their new mission to find and study the animals, the team worked in the Strait of Sicily – an area considered a "key remaining habitat" in the Mediterranean for several endangered shark species.

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

To try this, the researchers used over three tons of fish bait – including baitfish and a substantial volume of scent oil to create a "fat slick" that many sharks can smell from hundreds of metres away.

After two weeks of work – laying bait, taking samples of seawater to test for environmental DNA and using underwater cameras – the researchers were unable to locate any sharks to tag.

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

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

While the team was searching for remaining sharks, they also received reports that a young great white shark had been taken in a North African fishery – just a short distance from where they were working.

It is unknown whether that specimen was accidentally caught in fishing gear, or if it was hunted.

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

Sharks for Sale

The team, along with local partners, are keeping watch on multiple ports in the region. Documentation shows that sharks under protection 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 regional treaty states that those species cannot be "retained on board, transhipped, landed, transferred, stored, sold or displayed or offered for sale".

The agreement states "they must be released alive [where] possible". Those rules do not address 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 wildlife left," he said. "And if we can protect this, there is a hope for revival."

What Can Be Done?

In less affluent areas in North Africa, fishermen who catch sharks might face the choice of whether to earn a livelihood, or release a protected animal to the ocean.

"Why would they throw sharks back into the sea when they need food for their children?" asked a scientist. "If you assist and guide them in more responsible fishing, they will not catch these sharks."

A conservationist added that if countries around the Mediterranean joined forces, "there is hope."

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