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Great white sharks in the Mediterranean basin are on the verge of vanishing, with unlawful fishing practices being a major contributor to their worrying decrease.

This assessment is based on studies conducted by experts, who collaborated with an international conservation charity. They note that various at-risk marine animals – including great white sharks – are found on sale in marketplaces across the North African coast.

Great white sharks are one of more than 20 Mediterranean shark species shielded by international agreements, which makes it illegal to catch them or to trade them.

However, by monitoring fishing ports along the North African Mediterranean shoreline, investigators uncovered that at least 40 great white sharks have been killed there in just the past year.

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

One piece of footage showed a big shark being dragged onto land from a trawler in Algeria. A separate video, recorded in Tunisia, shows heads and fins of what looks like a mako shark, which is also a threatened and protected species.

Last Shark Stronghold

The principal scientist, explained that many populations of sharks – white sharks in particular – had declined dramatically in the Mediterranean in recent decades.

"No other body of water is subjected to such fishing pressure as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The consequences of commercial fishing has been intensifying... and it's likely that they will become extinct in the coming years."

The Mediterranean great whites is now designated as Critically Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

In their latest attempt to locate and research the predators, the team worked in the Strait of Sicily – an area known as a "last stronghold" in the Mediterranean for several endangered shark species.

One key aim of their expedition was to deploy a tracking device onto a white shark – something that has remained unachieved in the Mediterranean Sea.

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

Despite working for two weeks – laying bait, taking samples of seawater to test for environmental DNA and using underwater cameras – the researchers did not manage to find any specimens.

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

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

While the team was searching for surviving sharks, they also were informed that a young great white shark had been captured and killed in a North African fishery – just not far from where they were working.

It is uncertain whether that shark was accidentally caught in nets or lines, or if it was deliberately caught.

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.

Illegal Shark Trade

The team, along with local partners, are keeping watch on multiple 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 treaty-based safeguards – including mako, angel, threshers and hammerheads.

An regional treaty 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 returned to the sea alive [where] possible". Those rules are not designed for unintentional catch and compliance varies from country to country.

A marine advocate noted that his own research found several great whites on sale. But, he said, there was a paradoxical element of hope in the fact that white sharks were appearing in trade.

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

Possible Solutions

In less affluent areas in North Africa, fishers who catch sharks might face the dilemma of whether to feed their family, 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 local expert. "If you support them and train them in more selective fishing, they will not catch protected species."

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

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