Great white sharks have become so scarce in the Mediterranean that researchers now warn the regional population is edging toward extinction, with illegal fishing playing a central role. A team led by Virginia Tech scientist Francesco Ferretti, working with UK-based charity Blue Marine Foundation, reports that at least 40 great whites were killed along North Africa's Mediterranean coast in 2025 alone, per the BBC. The species is protected under international agreements, which ban catching, landing, or selling the sharks, yet investigators say they've documented protected sharks openly traded in fish markets in Algeria and Tunisia.
Ferretti's group focused on the Strait of Sicily, considered a last refuge for several endangered shark species. Their goal included attaching a satellite tag to a Mediterranean great white for the first time. Over two weeks, they deployed more than 3 tons of bait and 500 liters of tuna oil, sampled seawater for traces of shark DNA, and ran baited underwater cameras. However, they failed to find a single great white to tag and saw only one blue shark on camera—an absence Ferretti described as "disheartening" evidence of a heavily depleted ecosystem.
During the expedition, the team learned that a juvenile great white had been caught and killed just 20 nautical miles away. The Mediterranean's great whites are listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Enforcement, however, is patchy, and the rules don't fully address accidental bycatch. Conservationists working with local groups say many North African fishers operate in poor communities where a landed shark can mean vital income or food. "Why would they throw sharks back into the sea when they need food for their children?" asks Sara Almabruk of the Libyan Marine Biology Society, arguing that support and training in more sustainable methods could reduce shark kills.
Blue Marine's James Glancy, who has documented protected sharks for sale in Tunisian markets, says the fact that any remain is a slim but real opportunity: If Mediterranean countries act together, and quickly, he argues, the population might still recover. National Geographic profiled this elusive Mediterranean sea creature a few years back, with one college professor noting that great whites "were, without a doubt, at one time much more abundant in the Mediterranean than they are presently." Forbes, meanwhile, has more on the work of Ferretti's team.
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