These Apex Predators Face Extinction in the Mediterranean, Experts Report

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

This finding is based on investigations carried out by researchers, who partnered with an ocean protection organization. They note that some of the most threatened species – such as the great white – are appearing for sale in marketplaces across Northern African nations.

Great white sharks are one of over twenty Mediterranean shark species protected under international law, which makes it illegal to catch them or to offer them for sale.

However, by surveying docks along the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, scientists uncovered that at least 40 great white sharks have been caught and killed there in just the past year.

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

A particular clip showed a big shark being dragged onto land from a fishing boat in Algeria. Additional footage, filmed in Tunisia, shows remains and fins of what appears to be a protected mako, which is also a protected and endangered species.

Remaining Habitat

The lead researcher, clarified that many shark populations – great whites especially – had plummeted in the Mediterranean in recent decades.

"No other body of water is subjected to such fishing pressure as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The impact of industrial fishing has been growing... and it's likely that they will vanish in the coming years."

The Mediterranean white shark population is now designated as Critically Endangered by the global conservation union.

In their latest attempt to track and analyze the sharks, the team worked in the waters between Sicily and North Africa – an area identified as a "key remaining habitat" in the Mediterranean for several sharks at risk.

An important goal of their mission was to fit a satellite tracking tag onto a white shark – something that has not yet been accomplished in the Mediterranean Sea.

To attempt this, the researchers used a large amount of chum – including frozen mackerel and tuna scraps and 500 litres of tuna oil to create a "scent trail" that many sharks can detect from a great distance.

Even after a fortnight of effort – laying bait, collecting water samples to test for environmental DNA and using remote cameras – the researchers were unable to locate any animals to tag.

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

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

While the team was searching for remaining sharks, they also received reports that a young great white shark had been captured and killed in a regional fishery – just a short distance from where they were working.

It is uncertain whether that shark was accidentally caught in fishing gear, or if it was targeted.

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.

Sharks for Sale

The team, along with local partners, are observing various harbors in the region. Findings shows that protected sharks are taken and traded in countries including the region.

The protective legislation are complex. Currently, two dozen endangered species have treaty-based safeguards – including mako, angel, threshers 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 mandates "they must be returned to the sea alive [where] possible". Those rules are not designed for unintentional catch and compliance varies from nation to nation.

A expert noted that his own inquiry found multiple white sharks on sale. But, he said, there was a unexpected hopeful sign in the fact that white sharks were turning up for sale.

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

What Can Be Done?

In less affluent areas 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 discard their catch into the sea when they must feed their households?" asked a scientist. "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 collaborated, "there is hope."

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