Great white sharks in the Mediterranean are in danger of disappearing, with illegal fishing reducing their numbers.

This is according to research conducted by US scientists in partnership with UK charities blue ocean foundation. They say some of the most threatened species – including great white sharks – are being sold in North African fish markets.

The great white shark is one of more than 20 species of Mediterranean sharks protected by international lawmeaning it is illegal to catch or sell them.

However, by monitoring fishing ports along the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, researchers found that at least 40 great white sharks were killed in 2025 alone.

The BBC also discovered and independently verified videos on social media of protected sharks being brought into North African ports.

A video shows a great white shark being pulled ashore from a fishing boat in Algeria. Another photo taken in Tunisia shows the head and fins of a shortfin mako shark, also a threatened and protected species, being prepared for sale.

Lead researcher Dr Francesco Ferretti of Virginia Tech in the US explained that many shark species, especially white sharks, The Mediterranean Sea has declined sharply in recent decades.

“No other body of water is fished like in the Mediterranean,” he told the BBC News science team in late 2025 while working on a research vessel off the coast of Sicily.

“The impacts of industrial fishing have been increasing… and they are likely to become extinct in the near future.”

The population of white sharks in the Mediterranean is It is now listed as a critically endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature..

In the latest attempt to find and study these predators, Dr. Ferretti and his team worked in the Sicilian Channel, an area between Sicily and North Africa that has been identified as the “last stronghold” of several threatened shark species in the Mediterranean.

A key goal of their mission is to attach satellite tracking tags to white sharks – something that has never been done before in the Mediterranean.

To try this, the researchers brought in more than three tonnes of bait – a container full of frozen mackerel and tuna scraps – and 500 liters of tuna oil to create an ‘oil slick’ that many sharks can smell hundreds of meters away.

Despite two weeks of work—dropping baits in the ocean, taking seawater samples to look for shark DNA, and using underwater cameras—the researchers didn’t find any animals that could be tagged.

Their submarine cameras caught only a brief glimpse of a blue shark.

“It’s frustrating,” Dr. Ferretti told us. “It just goes to show how degraded this ecosystem is.”

As the team searched for surviving sharks, they also received reports that a juvenile great white shark had been caught and killed in a North African fishery just 20 nautical miles from where they were working.

It was unclear whether the animal was accidentally caught in fishing gear or if it was targeted.

However, Dr. Ferretti and his team estimate that more than 40 great white sharks have been caught off the coast. “That’s a lot for a critically endangered population,” he said.

Researchers and colleagues in North Africa are monitoring several fishing ports in the region. Our work with the BBC Forensic Team has also shown that protected sharks are being caught, landed and sold in countries such as Tunisia and Algeria.

We spotted a video on social media showing a great white shark landing in a fishing port in Algeria, and another large shark that appears to be a protected shortfin mako shark being prepared for sale on a push cart at a Tunisian fish market.

The rules to protect sharks are complicated. There are currently 24 threatened species protected by international law, including mako, angel, thresher and hammerhead sharks.

The EU and 23 countries around the Mediterranean have signed an agreementwhich states that these species cannot be “retained on board, transshipped, landed, transferred, stored, sold or exhibited or offered for sale.”

International agreements stipulate that “they must, if possible, remain unharmed and alive.” These rules do not address the problem of accidental bycatch, and enforcement varies from country to country.

James Glancy of Blue Marine told BBC News that his own investigation found multiple white sharks being sold in Tunisian fishing markets. But, he said, there’s a paradoxical hope in the fact that white sharks are showing up for sale.

“It shows there’s still wildlife out there,” he told BBC News. “If we can preserve this, there’s a chance of recovery.”

In poorer communities in North Africa, fishermen who catch sharks may face a choice between feeding their families or releasing threatened species back into the ocean.

Sara Almabruk, of the Libyan Society of Marine Biology, said most catches in North African waters were accidental, but added: “Why would they throw sharks back into the sea when they need to provide food for their children?

“If you support them and train them to fish more sustainably, they won’t catch white sharks or any sharks.”

Blue Ocean’s James Glancy added that if countries around the Mediterranean work together, “there is hope.

“But, he added, “we must act quickly”.