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The iconic great white in the Mediterranean basin are facing a serious threat of extinction, with illegal fishing being a major contributor to their alarming decline.

This finding is based on studies conducted by experts, who partnered with an ocean protection organization. They report that several critically endangered species – like the great white shark – are being sold in marketplaces across North Africa.

Great whites are one of in excess of 20 Mediterranean shark species shielded by international agreements, which makes it illegal to target them or to sell them.

However, by observing harbors along the coastline of North Africa, scientists found that a minimum of forty great white sharks have been killed there in just the past year.

Social media clips showing protected sharks being brought dead into North African ports has been independently verified.

One piece of footage showed a sizeable great white shark being dragged onto land from a vessel in Algeria. A separate video, taken in a Tunisian location, shows heads and fins of what looks like a short-finned mako shark, which is also a threatened and protected species.

Last Shark Stronghold

The lead researcher, stated that many shark species – white sharks in particular – had declined dramatically in the Mediterranean in the last few decades.

"No other body of water is fished like the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The impact of industrial fishing has been intensifying... and it's possible that they will go extinct in the foreseeable future."

The Mediterranean great whites is now classified as Critically Endangered by the key international body.

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

A primary objective of their project was to deploy a tracking device onto a white shark – something that has not yet been accomplished in the Mediterranean Sea.

To try this, the researchers used over three tons of fish bait – including frozen fish parts and 500 litres of scent oil to create a "oil slick" that many sharks can sense from far off.

After two weeks of work – chumming the water, collecting water samples to look for genetic material and using underwater cameras – the researchers were unable to locate any animals to tag.

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

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

While the team was searching for surviving sharks, they also learned that a juvenile great white had been caught and killed in a fishery off North Africa – just 20 nautical miles from where they were working.

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

The team, however, believes 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 team, along with local partners, are monitoring several fishing ports in the region. Findings shows that sharks under protection are taken and traded in countries including the region.

The rules that protect sharks are complex. Currently, 24 threatened species have treaty-based safeguards – 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 specifies "they must be returned to the sea alive [where] possible". Those rules do not tackle incidental capture and compliance varies from nation to nation.

A conservationist noted that his own inquiry found several great whites on sale. But, he said, there was a paradoxical element of hope 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 chance of recovery."

Possible Solutions

In economically challenged regions in North Africa, fishers who catch sharks might face the dilemma of whether to feed their family, or release a protected animal to the ocean.

"Why would they throw sharks back into the sea when they need food for their children?" asked a scientist. "If you assist and guide them in more sustainable fishing, they will not catch protected species."

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

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