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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 alarming decline.

This conclusion is based on investigations carried out by researchers, who worked alongside an international conservation charity. They indicate that several critically endangered species – like the great white shark – are appearing for sale in marketplaces across Northern African nations.

These sharks are one of more than 20 Mediterranean shark species safeguarded by global treaties, which renders it unlawful to target them or to trade them.

However, by surveying docks along the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, scientists uncovered that no fewer than 40 great white sharks have been killed there in just the past year.

Videos shared online showing protected sharks being unloaded in North African ports has been independently verified.

One piece of footage showed a big shark being pulled from a boat from a vessel in Algeria. Another, filmed in Tunisia, shows parts of what appears to be a short-finned mako shark, which is also a protected and endangered species.

Remaining Habitat

The project head, clarified that many shark species – 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 consequences of commercial fishing has been increasing... and it's plausible that they will go extinct 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 find and study the predators, the team worked in the waters between Sicily and North Africa – an area known as a "final refuge" in the Mediterranean for several sharks at risk.

An important goal of their mission was to attach a satellite tag onto a shark – something that has remained unachieved in the Mediterranean Sea.

To attempt this, the researchers used over three tons of chum – including frozen fish parts and a substantial volume of tuna oil to create a "oil slick" that many sharks can smell from hundreds of metres away.

Even after a fortnight of effort – baiting the ocean, sampling for DNA to look for genetic material and using underwater cameras – the researchers were unable to locate any specimens.

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

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

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

It is not clear whether that shark was ensnared unintentionally in gear, or if it was deliberately caught.

The team, however, calculates that in excess of 40 great white sharks have been harvested in that area. "This is a lot for a critically endangered population," the researcher emphasized.

Sharks for Sale

The scientists, along with regional contacts, are monitoring several fishing ports in the region. Evidence shows that protected sharks are taken and traded in countries including several North African nations.

The regulations safeguarding sharks are complex. Currently, numerous species have global protection – 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 address accidental bycatch and compliance varies from one place to another.

A conservationist noted that his own inquiry found a number of sharks on sale. But, he said, there was a seeming silver lining in the fact that white sharks were being found in markets.

"It shows that there is life remaining," he said. "And if we can protect this, there is a possibility of comeback."

Possible Solutions

In poorer communities in North Africa, fishing communities who catch sharks might face the dilemma of whether to earn a livelihood, or throw back an endangered shark to the ocean.

"Why would they throw sharks back into the sea when they must feed their households?" asked a regional marine biologist. "If you assist and guide them in more sustainable fishing, they will not catch white sharks."

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

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