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These formidable predators in the Mediterranean Sea are in danger of disappearing, with illegal fishing being a key factor to their worrying decrease.

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

These sharks are one of more than 20 Mediterranean shark species shielded by international agreements, which prohibits to target them or to offer them for sale.

However, by monitoring fishing ports along the coastline of North Africa, the research team found that at least 40 great white sharks have been caught and killed there in just the past year.

Social media clips showing protected sharks being landed at North African ports has been confirmed.

One piece of footage showed a sizeable great white shark being hauled ashore from a fishing boat in Algeria. Another, recorded in Tunisia, shows parts of what appears to be a short-finned mako shark, which is also a species at risk.

Remaining Habitat

The principal scientist, stated that many populations of sharks – particularly great whites – had suffered a severe drop in the Mediterranean in the past years.

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

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

In their latest attempt to find and study the predators, the team worked in the waters between Sicily and North Africa – an area identified as a "last stronghold" in the Mediterranean for several endangered shark species.

A primary objective of their project was to attach a satellite tag onto a white shark – something that has not yet been accomplished in the Mediterranean Sea.

To do this, the researchers used over three tons of fish bait – including frozen mackerel and tuna scraps and hundreds of liters of scent oil to create a "fat slick" that many sharks can smell from hundreds of metres away.

After two weeks of work – chumming the water, sampling for DNA to test for environmental DNA and using subsea cameras – the researchers were unable to locate any specimens.

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

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

While the team was searching for living sharks, they also learned that a juvenile great white had been taken in a North African fishery – just 20 nautical miles from where they were working.

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

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.

Illegal Shark Trade

The scientists, along with regional contacts, are observing various harbors in the region. Evidence shows that sharks under protection are captured, brought to port, and sold in countries including several North African nations.

The regulations safeguarding sharks are complicated. Currently, numerous species have treaty-based safeguards – 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 released unharmed and alive [where] possible". Those rules do not tackle unintentional catch and compliance varies from one place to another.

A conservationist noted that his own investigation found multiple white sharks on sale. But, he said, there was a paradoxical element of hope in the fact that white sharks were being found in markets.

"It shows that there is animals still there," he said. "And if we can protect this, there is a hope for revival."

What Can Be Done?

In economically challenged regions in North Africa, fishing communities who catch sharks might face the dilemma of whether to provide for their families, or throw back an endangered shark to the ocean.

"Why would they release sharks into the sea when they must feed their households?" asked a scientist. "If you provide alternatives and education in more responsible fishing, they will not catch white sharks."

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

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