🔗 Share this article

These formidable predators in the Mediterranean basin are on the verge of vanishing, with poaching being a major contributor to their rapid population drop.

This conclusion is based on research by scientists, who worked alongside an marine preservation group. They indicate that some of the most threatened species – such as the great white – are appearing for sale in marketplaces across the North African coast.

Great whites are one of in excess of 20 Mediterranean shark species safeguarded by global treaties, which renders it unlawful to fish for them or to offer them for sale.

However, by monitoring fishing ports along the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, the research team uncovered that at least 40 great white sharks have been slaughtered in that region in just the past year.

Videos shared online showing protected sharks being brought dead into North African ports has been independently verified.

A particular clip showed a large great white being dragged onto land from a vessel in an Algerian port. A separate video, taken in a Tunisian location, shows parts of what is believed to be a protected mako, which is also a threatened and protected species.

Last Shark Stronghold

The project head, explained that many populations of sharks – great whites especially – had plummeted in the Mediterranean in recent decades.

"No other body of water is subjected to such fishing pressure as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The impact of industrial fishing has been growing... and it's possible that they will go extinct in the near future."

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

In their most recent effort to locate and research the predators, the team worked in the waters between Sicily and North Africa – an area known as a "final refuge" in the Mediterranean for several threatened shark species.

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

To do this, the researchers used more than three tonnes of fish bait – including frozen mackerel and tuna scraps and a substantial volume of tuna oil to create a "scent trail" that many sharks can sense from far off.

After two weeks of work – laying bait, sampling for DNA to look for genetic material and using remote cameras – the researchers were unable to locate any specimens.

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

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

During their search for surviving sharks, they also received reports that a juvenile great white had been captured and killed in a fishery off North Africa – just 20 nautical miles from where they were working.

It is not clear whether that specimen was accidentally caught in nets or lines, or if it was targeted.

The team, however, calculates that more than 40 great white sharks have been harvested in that area. "This is a lot for a critically endangered population," the researcher emphasized.

Illegal Shark Trade

The researchers, along with colleagues in North Africa, are monitoring several fishing ports in the region. Evidence shows that protected sharks are captured, brought to port, and sold in countries including Tunisia and Algeria.

The protective legislation are complicated. Currently, 24 threatened species have global protection – 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 mandates "they must be released unharmed and alive [where] possible". Those rules do not tackle incidental capture and implementation differs from nation to nation.

A expert noted that his own investigation found multiple white sharks on sale. But, he said, there was a seeming silver lining 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 possibility of comeback."

The Path Forward

In economically challenged regions in North Africa, fishers who catch sharks might face the choice of whether to earn a livelihood, 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 regional marine biologist. "If you support them and train them in more selective fishing, they will not catch these sharks."

A conservationist added that if countries around the Mediterranean joined forces, "there is hope."

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