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The iconic great white in the Mediterranean basin are facing a serious threat of extinction, with illegal fishing being a significant driver to their worrying decrease.

This assessment is based on investigations carried out by researchers, who collaborated with an marine preservation group. They indicate that several critically endangered species – like the great white shark – are being sold in ports across the North African coast.

These sharks are one of over twenty Mediterranean shark species protected under international law, which makes it illegal to fish for them or to trade them.

However, by observing harbors along the North African Mediterranean shoreline, the research team found that no fewer than 40 great white sharks have been caught and killed there in just the past year.

Footage from social media showing sharks under protection being landed at North African ports has been independently verified.

One piece of footage showed a big shark being hauled ashore from a vessel in an Algerian port. Another, taken in a Tunisian location, shows parts of what looks like a mako shark, which is also a species at risk.

Remaining Habitat

The lead researcher, stated that many shark populations – particularly great whites – had declined dramatically in the Mediterranean in the past years.

"No other stretch of water is subjected to such fishing pressure as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The impact of industrial fishing has been growing... and it's likely that they will vanish in the coming years."

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

In their latest attempt to track and analyze the animals, the team worked in the waters between Sicily and North Africa – an area known as a "last stronghold" in the Mediterranean for several threatened shark species.

One key aim of their expedition was to deploy a tracking device onto a great white – something that has remained unachieved in the Mediterranean Sea.

To try this, the researchers used over three tons of fish bait – including frozen fish parts and 500 litres of scent oil to create a "oil slick" that many sharks can smell from hundreds of metres away.

After two weeks of work – baiting the ocean, collecting water samples to search for shark DNA and using underwater cameras – the researchers were unable to locate any animals to tag.

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

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

As the team searched for living sharks, they also received reports that a juvenile great white had been captured and killed in a North African fishery – just a short distance from where they were working.

It is unknown whether that animal was ensnared unintentionally in gear, or if it was hunted.

The team, however, calculates that more than 40 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 scientists, along with colleagues in North Africa, are monitoring several fishing ports in the region. Findings shows that protected sharks are caught, landed and offered for sale in countries including the region.

The protective legislation are complex. Currently, two dozen endangered species have treaty-based safeguards – 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 specifies "they must be returned to the sea alive [where] possible". Those rules are not designed for unintentional catch and enforcement is variable from one place to another.

A conservationist noted that his own inquiry found multiple white sharks on sale. But, he said, there was a unexpected hopeful sign in the fact that white sharks were being found in markets.

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

What Can Be Done?

In poorer communities in North Africa, fishers who catch sharks might face the dilemma of whether to provide for their families, or return a threatened species to the ocean.

"Why would they throw sharks back 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 protected species."

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

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