Great white sharks in the Mediterranean waters are facing a serious threat of extinction, with poaching being a significant driver to their worrying decrease.
This assessment is based on studies conducted by experts, who worked alongside an ocean protection organization. They note that some of the most threatened species – such as the great white – are appearing for sale in ports across the North African coast.
Great white sharks are one of over twenty Mediterranean shark species protected under international law, which prohibits to target them or to offer them for sale.
However, by observing harbors along the coastline of North Africa, scientists discovered that a minimum of forty great white sharks have been slaughtered in that region in just the past year.
Social media clips showing protected sharks being landed at North African ports has been independently verified.
A particular clip showed a big shark being hauled ashore from a vessel in Algeria. Additional footage, filmed in Tunisia, shows remains and fins of what looks like a short-finned mako shark, which is also a threatened and protected species.
Last Shark Stronghold
The principal scientist, clarified that many shark species – particularly great whites – had suffered a severe drop in the Mediterranean in the past years.
"No other body of water is fished like the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The effects of large-scale fishing has been growing... and it's possible that they will go extinct in the coming years."
The Mediterranean great whites is now designated as Critically Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
In their new mission to locate and research the animals, the team worked in the Sicilian Strait – an area known as a "last stronghold" in the Mediterranean for several sharks at risk.
An important goal of their expedition was to deploy a tracking device onto a great white – something that has never been done in the Mediterranean Sea.
To attempt this, the researchers used a large amount of bait – including frozen mackerel and tuna scraps and hundreds of liters of fish oil to create a "fat slick" that many sharks can detect from a great distance.
Despite working for two weeks – baiting the ocean, 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 underwater cameras.
"It's disheartening," the lead researcher said. "It just shows how depleted this ecosystem is."
As the team searched for surviving sharks, they also were informed that a juvenile great white had been captured and killed in a North African fishery – just not far from where they were working.
It is uncertain whether that specimen was ensnared unintentionally in fishing gear, or if it was targeted.
The team, however, believes that over forty great white sharks have been caught around that coast. "This is a lot for a critically endangered population," the researcher emphasized.
Protected Sharks Traded
The researchers, along with colleagues in North Africa, are keeping watch on multiple ports in the region. Documentation shows that sharks under protection are taken and traded in countries including Tunisia and Algeria.
The rules that protect sharks are complicated. Currently, numerous species have international legal protection – 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 states "they must be returned to the sea alive [where] possible". Those rules do not tackle unintentional catch and implementation differs from nation to nation.
A marine advocate noted that his own investigation found a number of sharks on sale. But, he said, there was a seeming silver lining in the fact that white sharks were being found in markets.
"It shows that there is wildlife left," he said. "And if we can protect 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 decision of whether to feed their family, or return a threatened species to the ocean.
"Why would they throw sharks back into the sea when they must feed their households?" asked a regional marine biologist. "If you provide alternatives and education in more responsible fishing, they will not catch protected species."
Another expert added that if countries around the Mediterranean worked together, "there is hope."
"But," he stated, "we've got to act very quickly."
