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The iconic great white in the Mediterranean waters are facing a serious threat of extinction, with unlawful fishing practices being a key factor to their worrying decrease.

This conclusion is based on research by scientists, who partnered with an ocean protection organization. They note that some of the most threatened species – such as the great white – are being sold in ports across the North African coast.

These sharks are one of more than 20 Mediterranean shark species shielded by international agreements, which prohibits to target them or to trade them.

However, by surveying docks along the coastline of North Africa, scientists discovered that no fewer than 40 great white sharks have been slaughtered in that region in just the past year.

Videos shared online showing endangered sharks being brought dead into North African ports has been confirmed.

A particular clip showed a big shark being pulled from a boat from a fishing boat in an Algerian port. Another, recorded in Tunisia, shows heads and fins of what appears to be a mako shark, which is also a species at risk.

Final Refuge

The lead researcher, stated that many populations of sharks – great whites especially – had plummeted in the Mediterranean in the last few decades.

"No other stretch of water is subjected to such fishing pressure as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The effects of large-scale fishing has been intensifying... and it's plausible that they will go extinct in the coming years."

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

In their latest attempt to find and study the predators, the team worked in the Strait of Sicily – an area identified as a "final refuge" in the Mediterranean for several endangered shark species.

An important goal of their project was to fit a satellite tracking tag onto a white shark – something that has not yet been accomplished in the Mediterranean Sea.

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

After two weeks of work – laying bait, collecting water samples to test for environmental DNA and using subsea cameras – the researchers failed to encounter any sharks to tag.

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

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

While the team was searching for surviving 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 unknown whether that shark was accidentally caught in gear, or if it was hunted.

The team, however, estimates that more than 40 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 scientists, along with local partners, are monitoring several fishing ports in the region. Documentation shows that protected sharks are caught, landed and offered for sale in countries including the region.

The rules that protect sharks are multifaceted. Currently, numerous species have global protection – 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 states "they must be released alive [where] possible". Those rules are not designed for accidental bycatch and compliance varies from country to country.

A expert noted that his own research 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 animals still there," he said. "And if we can preserve this, there is a hope for revival."

Possible Solutions

In economically challenged regions in North Africa, fishermen who catch sharks might face the choice of whether to earn a livelihood, or return a threatened species to the ocean.

"Why would they throw sharks back into the sea when they require sustenance for their families?" asked a regional marine biologist. "If you support them and train them in more responsible fishing, they will not catch these sharks."

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

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