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

This finding is based on studies conducted by experts, who partnered with an international conservation charity. They report that some of the most threatened species – like the great white shark – are found on sale in ports across the North African coast.

Great whites are one of in excess of 20 Mediterranean shark species safeguarded by global treaties, which makes it illegal to fish for them or to trade them.

However, by surveying docks along the North African Mediterranean shoreline, investigators found that a minimum of forty great white sharks have been 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.

A particular clip showed a sizeable great white shark being pulled from a boat from a vessel in Algeria. A separate video, filmed in Tunisia, shows parts of what appears to be a protected mako, which is also a species at risk.

Final Refuge

The principal scientist, stated that many shark populations – great whites especially – had suffered a severe drop in the Mediterranean in the last few decades.

"No other body of water is exploited as heavily as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The effects of large-scale fishing has been intensifying... and it's plausible that they will become extinct in the foreseeable future."

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

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

A primary objective of their expedition was to deploy a tracking device onto a white shark – something that has remained unachieved in the Mediterranean Sea.

To do this, the researchers used a large amount of fish bait – including frozen fish parts and 500 litres of scent oil to create a "scent trail" that many sharks can detect from a great distance.

Even after a fortnight of effort – laying bait, sampling for DNA to look for genetic material and using underwater cameras – the researchers did not manage to find any sharks to tag.

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

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

As the team searched for remaining sharks, they also learned that a young great white shark had been caught and killed in a fishery off North Africa – just 20 nautical miles from where they were working.

It is uncertain whether that shark was ensnared unintentionally in gear, or if it was deliberately caught.

The team, however, believes that over forty great white sharks have been taken along that coastline. "This is a lot for a critically endangered population," the researcher emphasized.

Sharks for Sale

The researchers, along with regional contacts, are observing various harbors in the region. Documentation shows that sharks under protection are caught, landed and offered for sale in countries including several North African nations.

The rules that protect sharks are complicated. Currently, two dozen endangered species have treaty-based safeguards – such as makos, angel sharks, threshers, 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 mandates "they must be released alive [where] possible". Those rules are not designed for incidental capture and implementation differs from country to country.

A expert noted that his own inquiry found a number of 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 safeguard this, there is a possibility of comeback."

What Can Be Done?

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

"Why would they release sharks into the sea when they need food for their children?" asked a local expert. "If you support them and train them in more responsible fishing, they will not catch protected species."

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

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