These Apex Predators Are on the Brink of Extinction in the Mediterranean, Experts State

Great white sharks in the Mediterranean waters are in danger of disappearing, with illegal fishing being a key factor to their rapid population drop.

This conclusion is based on investigations carried out by researchers, who worked alongside an international conservation charity. They report that several critically endangered species – like the great white shark – are appearing for sale in fish markets across North Africa.

These sharks are one of more than 20 Mediterranean shark species protected under international law, which makes it illegal to target them or to offer them for sale.

However, by monitoring fishing ports along the coastline of North Africa, the research team uncovered that no fewer than 40 great white sharks have been killed there in just the past year.

Videos shared online showing endangered sharks being brought dead into North African ports has been confirmed.

One video showed a sizeable great white shark being hauled ashore from a trawler in Algeria. A separate video, recorded in Tunisia, shows remains and fins of what is believed to be a short-finned mako shark, which is also a protected and endangered species.

Last Shark Stronghold

The project head, explained that many shark species – white sharks in particular – had suffered a severe drop in the Mediterranean in the last few decades.

"No other body of water is subjected to such fishing pressure as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The effects of large-scale fishing has been increasing... and it's plausible that they will vanish in the near future."

The population of great whites in the Mediterranean is now classified as Critically Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

In their new mission to locate and research the predators, the team worked in the Sicilian Strait – an area identified as a "last stronghold" in the Mediterranean for several sharks at risk.

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

To do this, the researchers used a large amount of bait – including frozen mackerel and tuna scraps and a substantial volume of fish oil to create a "fat slick" that many sharks can sense from far off.

After two weeks of work – chumming the water, sampling for DNA to search for shark DNA 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 on their submarine cameras.

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

As the team searched for living sharks, they also learned that a juvenile great white had been taken in a regional fishery – just a short distance from where they were working.

It is not clear whether that animal was ensnared unintentionally in nets or lines, or if it was deliberately caught.

The team, however, believes 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.

Sharks for Sale

The researchers, along with local partners, are observing various harbors in the region. Documentation shows that protected sharks are taken and traded in countries including several North African nations.

The protective legislation are complicated. Currently, numerous species have treaty-based safeguards – including mako, angel, threshers 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 specifies "they must be released unharmed and alive [where] possible". Those rules do not address accidental bycatch and compliance varies from nation to nation.

A expert noted that his own investigation found several great whites 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 animals still there," he said. "And if we can protect this, there is a chance of recovery."

What Can Be Done?

In economically challenged regions 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 release sharks into the sea when they must feed their households?" asked a regional marine biologist. "If you assist and guide them in more responsible fishing, they will not catch white sharks."

An advocate added that if countries around the Mediterranean worked together, "there is hope."

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