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Great white sharks in the Mediterranean basin are facing a serious threat of extinction, with illegal fishing being a key factor to their worrying decrease.

This assessment is based on studies conducted by experts, who worked alongside an ocean protection organization. They indicate that several critically endangered species – such as the great white – are being sold in ports across Northern African nations.

Great whites are one of more than 20 Mediterranean shark species shielded by international agreements, which prohibits to target them or to trade them.

However, by surveying docks along the North African Mediterranean shoreline, investigators uncovered that at least 40 great white sharks have been slaughtered in that region in just the past year.

Videos shared online showing protected sharks being landed at North African ports has been independently verified.

A particular clip showed a sizeable great white shark being dragged onto land from a trawler in an Algerian port. A separate video, taken in a Tunisian location, 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, stated that many populations of sharks – white sharks in particular – had plummeted in the Mediterranean in recent decades.

"No other body of water is exploited as heavily as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The consequences of commercial fishing has been growing... and it's possible that they will become extinct in the coming years."

The Mediterranean great whites is now designated 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 "last stronghold" in the Mediterranean for several endangered shark species.

A primary objective of their mission was to deploy a tracking device onto a white shark – something that has remained unachieved in the Mediterranean Sea.

To try this, the researchers used over three tons of chum – including baitfish and a substantial volume of scent oil to create a "fat slick" that many sharks can detect from a great distance.

Even after a fortnight of effort – baiting the ocean, taking samples of seawater to look for genetic material and using underwater cameras – the researchers were unable to locate any sharks to tag.

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

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

As the team searched for surviving sharks, they also were informed that a young great white shark had been captured and killed in a fishery off North Africa – just not far from where they were working.

It is unknown whether that specimen was ensnared unintentionally in fishing gear, or if it was targeted.

The team, however, estimates 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.

Protected Sharks Traded

The researchers, along with colleagues in North Africa, are monitoring several fishing ports in the region. Documentation shows that sharks under protection are captured, brought to port, and sold in countries including Tunisia and Algeria.

The regulations safeguarding sharks are complicated. Currently, numerous species have international legal protection – like makos and hammerheads.

An international agreement 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 unharmed and alive [where] possible". Those rules do not tackle unintentional catch and implementation differs from country to country.

A conservationist 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 being found in markets.

"It shows that there is wildlife left," he said. "And if we can preserve this, there is a hope for revival."

What Can Be Done?

In economically challenged regions in North Africa, fishing communities who catch sharks might face the decision of whether to feed their family, or throw back an endangered shark to the ocean.

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

Another expert added that if countries around the Mediterranean joined forces, "there is hope."

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