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These formidable predators in the Mediterranean Sea are on the verge of vanishing, with illegal fishing being a key factor to their alarming decline.

This finding is based on studies conducted by experts, who worked alongside an marine preservation group. They indicate that several critically endangered species – including great white sharks – are found on sale in fish markets across North Africa.

Great white sharks are one of more than 20 Mediterranean shark species safeguarded by global treaties, which makes it illegal to catch them or to offer them for sale.

However, by monitoring fishing ports along the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, scientists discovered that at least 40 great white sharks have been caught and killed there in just the past year.

Videos shared online showing sharks under protection being landed at North African ports has been confirmed.

One piece of footage showed a big shark being dragged onto land from a trawler in an Algerian port. Another, filmed in Tunisia, shows parts of what appears to be a short-finned mako shark, which is also a threatened and protected species.

Final Refuge

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

"No other sea is exploited as heavily as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The consequences of commercial fishing has been growing... and it's likely that they will go extinct in the foreseeable future."

The Mediterranean white shark population is now listed as Critically Endangered by the key international body.

In their new mission to track and analyze the animals, the team worked in the waters between Sicily and North Africa – an area considered a "key remaining habitat" in the Mediterranean for several endangered shark species.

An important goal of their expedition was to fit a satellite tracking tag onto a shark – something that has never been done in the Mediterranean Sea.

To try this, the researchers used over three tons of fish bait – including frozen mackerel and tuna scraps and hundreds of liters of scent oil to create a "scent trail" that many sharks can detect from a great distance.

After two weeks of work – baiting the ocean, taking samples of seawater to test for environmental DNA and using remote cameras – the researchers failed to encounter any animals to tag.

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

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

As the team searched for living sharks, they also were informed that a small great white had been taken in a fishery off North Africa – just 20 nautical miles from where they were working.

It is uncertain whether that animal was caught by accident in gear, or if it was targeted.

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.

Protected Sharks Traded

The team, along with regional contacts, are monitoring several fishing ports in the region. Findings shows that endangered sharks are caught, landed and offered for sale in countries including Tunisia and Algeria.

The rules that protect sharks are multifaceted. Currently, two dozen endangered species have treaty-based safeguards – like makos 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 released alive [where] possible". Those rules do not tackle incidental capture and implementation differs from one place to another.

A marine advocate noted that his own investigation found several great whites 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 safeguard this, there is a possibility of comeback."

The Path Forward

In economically challenged regions in North Africa, fishermen who catch sharks might face the dilemma of whether to provide for their families, or throw back an endangered shark to the ocean.

"Why would they release sharks into the sea when they require sustenance for their families?" asked a local expert. "If you provide alternatives and education 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 stated, "we've got to act very quickly."