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Great white sharks in the Mediterranean basin are on the verge of vanishing, with poaching being a key factor to their alarming decline.

This finding is based on investigations carried out by researchers, who collaborated with an ocean protection organization. They report that various at-risk marine animals – including great white sharks – are appearing for sale in ports across Northern African nations.

Great white sharks are one of in excess of 20 Mediterranean shark species protected under international law, which makes it illegal to target them or to offer them for sale.

However, by surveying docks along the North African Mediterranean shoreline, investigators uncovered that a minimum of forty great white sharks have been caught and killed there in just the past year.

Videos shared online showing endangered sharks being landed at North African ports has been independently verified.

A particular clip showed a big shark being hauled ashore from a trawler in an Algerian port. Additional footage, filmed in Tunisia, shows parts of what appears to be a short-finned mako shark, which is also a species at risk.

Final Refuge

The principal scientist, clarified that many shark species – white sharks in particular – had declined dramatically in the Mediterranean in the past years.

"No other body of water is fished like the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The consequences of commercial fishing has been intensifying... and it's possible that they will go extinct in the near future."

The Mediterranean white shark population is now listed as Critically Endangered by the global conservation union.

In their latest attempt to find and study the sharks, the team worked in the Sicilian Strait – an area known as a "key remaining habitat" in the Mediterranean for several sharks at risk.

A primary objective of their project was to attach a satellite tag onto a white shark – something that has never been done in the Mediterranean Sea.

To attempt this, the researchers used a large amount of chum – including frozen mackerel and tuna scraps 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 – laying bait, taking samples of seawater to test for environmental DNA and using subsea cameras – the researchers failed to encounter any sharks to tag.

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

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

During their search for remaining sharks, they also were informed that a small great white had been caught and killed in a fishery off North Africa – just not far from where they were working.

It is not clear whether that shark was accidentally caught in gear, or if it was hunted.

The team, however, believes that over forty 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 colleagues in North Africa, are observing various harbors in the region. Evidence shows that sharks under protection are caught, landed and offered for sale in countries including Tunisia and Algeria.

The rules that protect sharks are complex. Currently, numerous species have treaty-based safeguards – such as makos, angel sharks, threshers, and hammerheads.

An multinational pact 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 are not designed for incidental capture and compliance varies from country to country.

A marine advocate noted that his own investigation found a number of sharks on sale. But, he said, there was a unexpected hopeful sign in the fact that white sharks were being found in markets.

"It shows that there is wildlife left," he said. "And if we can protect this, there is a chance of recovery."

Possible Solutions

In poorer communities in North Africa, fishermen who catch sharks might face the decision of whether to feed their family, or throw back an endangered shark to the ocean.

"Why would they discard their catch into the sea when they need food for their children?" asked a local expert. "If you provide alternatives and education in more selective fishing, they will not catch these sharks."

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

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