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Great white sharks in the Mediterranean waters are in danger of disappearing, with illegal fishing being a major contributor to their worrying decrease.

This assessment is based on studies conducted by experts, who worked alongside an marine preservation group. They note that various at-risk marine animals – including great white sharks – are being sold in marketplaces across Northern African nations.

Great white sharks are one of more than 20 Mediterranean shark species shielded by international agreements, which prohibits to catch them or to sell them.

However, by surveying docks along the coastline of North Africa, investigators found that a minimum of forty great white sharks have been slaughtered in that region in just the past year.

Footage from social media showing sharks under protection being landed at North African ports has been confirmed.

One piece of footage showed a sizeable great white shark being pulled from a boat from a vessel in Algeria. Additional footage, filmed in Tunisia, shows heads and fins of what looks like a mako shark, which is also a threatened and protected species.

Remaining Habitat

The lead researcher, explained that many shark populations – great whites especially – had suffered a severe drop in the Mediterranean in the past years.

"No other stretch of water is exploited as heavily as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The consequences of commercial fishing has been increasing... and it's possible that they will vanish in the near future."

The population of great whites in the Mediterranean is now designated as Critically Endangered by the global conservation union.

In their new mission to find and study the animals, the team worked in the Strait of Sicily – an area known as a "final refuge" in the Mediterranean for several endangered shark species.

One key aim of their mission was to attach a satellite tag onto a white shark – something that has not yet been accomplished in the Mediterranean Sea.

To try this, the researchers used more than three tonnes of bait – including frozen mackerel and tuna scraps and a substantial volume of tuna oil to create a "fat slick" that many sharks can detect from a great distance.

After two weeks of work – laying bait, sampling for DNA to look for genetic material and using subsea cameras – the researchers did not manage to find any animals to tag.

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

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

As the team searched for living sharks, they also learned that a juvenile great white had been caught and killed in a fishery off North Africa – just not far from where they were working.

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

The team, however, calculates that more than 40 great white sharks have been caught around that coast. "This is a lot for a critically endangered population," the researcher emphasized.

Illegal Shark Trade

The researchers, along with colleagues in North Africa, are observing various harbors in the region. Findings shows that sharks under protection are taken and traded in countries including the region.

The rules that protect sharks are complex. Currently, 24 threatened species have international legal protection – like makos 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 released unharmed and alive [where] possible". Those rules are not designed for unintentional catch and implementation differs from country to country.

A conservationist noted that his own investigation found several great whites on sale. But, he said, there was a seeming silver lining 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 safeguard this, there is a hope for revival."

What Can Be Done?

In less affluent areas in North Africa, fishing communities who catch sharks might face the choice 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 need food for their children?" asked a local expert. "If you support them and train them in more selective fishing, they will not catch protected species."

An advocate added that if countries around the Mediterranean joined forces, "there is hope."

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