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The iconic great white in the Mediterranean waters are in danger of disappearing, with illegal fishing being a major contributor to their alarming decline.

This assessment is based on research by scientists, who collaborated with an international conservation charity. They note that several critically endangered species – like the great white shark – are appearing for sale in marketplaces across North Africa.

These sharks are one of over twenty Mediterranean shark species protected under international law, which renders it unlawful to target them or to offer them for sale.

However, by monitoring fishing ports along the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, investigators found that a minimum of forty great white sharks have been caught and killed there in just the past year.

Footage from social media showing sharks under protection being brought dead into North African ports has been confirmed.

One video showed a sizeable great white shark being dragged onto land from a trawler in Algeria. Another, recorded in Tunisia, shows parts of what appears to be a short-finned mako shark, which is also a species at risk.

Last Shark Stronghold

The project head, explained that many shark populations – great whites especially – had suffered a severe drop in the Mediterranean in the past years.

"No other stretch of water is fished like the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The impact of industrial fishing has been increasing... and it's likely that they will become extinct in the coming years."

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

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

A primary objective of their mission was to attach a satellite tag onto a white shark – something that has never been done in the Mediterranean Sea.

To do this, the researchers used over three tons of chum – including frozen fish parts and 500 litres of scent oil to create a "oil slick" that many sharks can detect from a great distance.

Even after a fortnight of effort – baiting the ocean, collecting water samples to look for genetic material and using remote cameras – the researchers failed to encounter any animals to tag.

They captured only a brief glimpse of one shark on their submarine cameras.

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

During their search for remaining sharks, they also were informed that a young great white shark had been taken in a fishery off North Africa – just 20 nautical miles from where they were working.

It is not clear whether that specimen was ensnared unintentionally in fishing gear, or if it was targeted.

The team, however, estimates that in excess of 40 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 researchers, along with regional contacts, are observing various harbors in the region. Findings shows that sharks under protection are captured, brought to port, and sold in countries including the region.

The rules that protect sharks are complicated. Currently, two dozen endangered species have treaty-based safeguards – including mako, angel, threshers and hammerheads.

An multinational pact states that those species cannot be "kept on boats, transferred, landed, stored, or sold".

The agreement specifies "they must be released alive [where] possible". Those rules do not tackle incidental capture and compliance varies from country to country.

A expert noted that his own investigation found a number of sharks on sale. But, he said, there was a paradoxical element of hope in the fact that white sharks were turning up for sale.

"It shows that there is life remaining," he said. "And if we can safeguard this, there is a hope for revival."

Possible Solutions

In less affluent areas in North Africa, fishing communities who catch sharks might face the dilemma of whether to provide for their families, or release a protected animal to the ocean.

"Why would they throw sharks back into the sea when they require sustenance for their families?" asked a local expert. "If you assist and guide them in more sustainable fishing, they will not catch these sharks."

An advocate added that if countries around the Mediterranean joined forces, "there is hope."

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