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These formidable predators in the Mediterranean basin are on the verge of vanishing, with unlawful fishing practices being a major contributor to their alarming decline.

This conclusion is based on investigations carried out by researchers, who worked alongside an marine preservation group. They indicate that some of the most threatened species – including great white sharks – are being sold in ports across North Africa.

These sharks are one of over twenty 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, the research team discovered that a minimum of forty great white sharks have been caught and killed there in just the past year.

Social media clips showing protected sharks being brought dead into North African ports has been independently verified.

One piece of footage showed a large great white being pulled from a boat from a fishing boat in Algeria. A separate video, recorded in Tunisia, shows parts of what is believed to be a mako shark, which is also a threatened and protected species.

Remaining Habitat

The principal scientist, explained that many populations of sharks – particularly great whites – 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 consequences of commercial fishing has been growing... and it's likely that they will vanish in the foreseeable future."

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

In their new mission to locate and research the sharks, the team worked in the Strait of Sicily – an area known as a "last stronghold" in the Mediterranean for several sharks at risk.

One key aim of their project was to attach a satellite tag onto a shark – something that has remained unachieved in the Mediterranean Sea.

To attempt this, the researchers used a large amount of fish bait – including frozen fish parts and 500 litres 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 look for genetic material and using underwater cameras – the researchers failed to encounter any sharks to tag.

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

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

During their search for surviving sharks, they also received reports that a small great white had been taken in a regional fishery – just not far from where they were working.

It is not clear whether that animal was caught by accident 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.

Sharks for Sale

The researchers, along with colleagues in North Africa, are monitoring several fishing ports in the region. Evidence shows that endangered sharks are taken and traded in countries including several North African nations.

The protective legislation are complex. Currently, two dozen endangered species have global protection – including mako, angel, threshers and hammerheads.

An regional treaty 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 implementation differs from country to country.

A marine advocate noted that his own inquiry 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 life remaining," he said. "And if we can safeguard this, there is a chance of recovery."

Possible Solutions

In poorer communities in North Africa, fishermen who catch sharks might face the choice of whether to feed their family, or return a threatened species to the ocean.

"Why would they discard their catch into the sea when they require sustenance for their families?" asked a local expert. "If you provide alternatives and education in more responsible fishing, they will not catch white sharks."

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

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