🔗 Share this article Great White Sharks Face Disappearing in the Mediterranean, Researchers Warn The iconic great white in the Mediterranean Sea are in danger of disappearing, with illegal fishing being a key factor to their rapid population drop. This finding is based on studies conducted by experts, who worked alongside an international conservation charity. They report that various at-risk marine animals – including great white sharks – are appearing for sale in marketplaces across the North African coast. Great whites are one of in excess of 20 Mediterranean shark species shielded by international agreements, which renders it unlawful to catch them or to trade them. However, by surveying docks along the North African Mediterranean shoreline, the research team discovered that a minimum of forty great white sharks have been slaughtered in that region in just the past year. Experts say they have observed safeguarded animals for sale in ports in several countries. Videos shared online showing sharks under protection being brought dead into North African ports has been confirmed. A particular clip showed a big shark being hauled ashore from a fishing boat in an Algerian port. A separate video, filmed in Tunisia, shows heads and fins of what appears to be a short-finned mako shark, which is also a protected and endangered species. Final Refuge The scientific team worked from a ship in the Strait of Sicily. The lead researcher, explained that many shark populations – white sharks in particular – had declined dramatically in the Mediterranean in the last few decades. "No other stretch of water is subjected to such fishing pressure as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The impact of industrial fishing has been intensifying... and it's possible that they will go extinct in the near future." The Mediterranean great whites is now classified as Critically Endangered by the global conservation union. In their most recent effort to find and study the predators, the team worked in the waters between Sicily and North Africa – an area known as a "last stronghold" in the Mediterranean for several threatened shark species. An important goal of their expedition was to fit a satellite tracking tag onto a white shark – something that has remained unachieved in the Mediterranean Sea. To do this, the researchers used a large amount of fish bait – including frozen fish parts and hundreds of liters of fish oil to create a "scent trail" that many sharks can detect from a great distance. Even after a fortnight of effort – chumming the water, sampling for DNA to look for genetic material and using underwater cameras – the researchers did not manage to find any sharks to tag. They captured only a fleeting sighting of one blue shark species on their underwater cameras. "It's disheartening," the lead researcher said. "It just shows how depleted this marine environment is." As the team searched for surviving sharks, they also learned that a small great white had been captured and killed in a North African fishery – 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 hunted. The team, however, calculates 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. Protected Sharks Traded Research in North African markets in recent years discovered protected sharks being sold. The team, along with colleagues in North Africa, are observing various harbors in the region. Evidence shows that endangered sharks are captured, brought to port, and sold in countries including Tunisia and Algeria. The protective legislation are complicated. Currently, two dozen endangered species have international legal protection – 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 states "they must be released alive [where] possible". Those rules do not address unintentional catch and implementation differs from one place to another. The researchers used baited underwater cameras to look for sharks. A expert noted that his own inquiry found several great whites on sale. But, he said, there was a seeming silver lining in the fact that white sharks were appearing in trade. "It shows that there is animals still there," he said. "And if we can preserve this, there is a chance of recovery." What Can Be Done? In poorer communities in North Africa, fishermen 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 throw sharks back into the sea when they require sustenance for their families?" asked a scientist. "If you support them and train them in more sustainable fishing, they will not catch protected species." Another expert added that if countries around the Mediterranean collaborated, "there is hope." "But," he added, "we've got to act very quickly."