🔗 Share this article

Great white sharks in the Mediterranean basin are facing a serious threat of extinction, with unlawful fishing practices being a significant driver to their alarming decline.

This conclusion is based on research by scientists, who partnered with an international conservation charity. They report that various at-risk marine animals – such as the great white – are appearing for sale in marketplaces across Northern African nations.

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

However, by observing harbors along the coastline of North Africa, scientists found that a minimum of forty great white sharks have been killed there in just the past year.

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

One video showed a large great white being hauled ashore from a trawler in Algeria. Additional footage, taken in a Tunisian location, shows heads and fins of what is believed to be a mako shark, which is also a protected and endangered species.

Last Shark Stronghold

The lead researcher, clarified that many shark populations – white sharks in particular – had declined dramatically in the Mediterranean in recent decades.

"No other sea is subjected to such fishing pressure as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The effects of large-scale fishing has been increasing... and it's plausible that they will vanish in the near future."

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

In their most recent effort to locate and research the animals, the team worked in the Sicilian Strait – an area identified as a "final refuge" in the Mediterranean for several sharks at risk.

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

To do this, the researchers used more than three tonnes of fish bait – including baitfish and 500 litres of fish oil to create a "scent trail" that many sharks can smell from hundreds of metres away.

After two weeks of work – laying bait, collecting water samples to look for genetic material and using remote cameras – the researchers did not manage to find any animals to tag.

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

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

While the team was searching for living sharks, they also learned that a juvenile great white had been taken in a regional fishery – just not far from where they were working.

It is not clear whether that specimen was ensnared unintentionally in fishing gear, or if it was hunted.

The team, however, believes 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.

Illegal Shark Trade

The team, along with colleagues in North Africa, are observing various harbors in the region. Findings shows that sharks under protection are caught, landed and offered for sale in countries including Tunisia and Algeria.

The rules that protect sharks are multifaceted. Currently, numerous species have treaty-based safeguards – like makos and hammerheads.

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

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

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

The Path Forward

In economically challenged regions in North Africa, fishing communities who catch sharks might face the decision of whether to feed their family, or release a protected animal to the ocean.

"Why would they discard their catch 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 protected species."

Another expert added that if countries around the Mediterranean worked together, "there is hope."

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