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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 research by scientists, who partnered with an international conservation charity. They note that several critically endangered species – like the great white shark – are being sold in marketplaces across the North African coast.

Great whites are one of more than 20 Mediterranean shark species safeguarded by global treaties, which renders it unlawful to catch them or to trade them.

However, by observing harbors along the North African Mediterranean shoreline, scientists discovered that at least 40 great white sharks have been caught and killed there in just the past year.

Footage from social media showing protected sharks being landed at North African ports has been independently verified.

A particular clip showed a sizeable great white shark being pulled from a boat from a vessel in Algeria. A separate video, filmed in Tunisia, shows parts of what looks like a mako shark, which is also a threatened and protected species.

Last Shark Stronghold

The principal scientist, clarified that many shark species – great whites especially – had plummeted in the Mediterranean in the past years.

"No other body of water is fished like the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The consequences of commercial fishing has been intensifying... and it's likely that they will vanish in the coming years."

The population of great whites in the Mediterranean is now listed as Critically Endangered by the key international body.

In their new mission to track and analyze the predators, the team worked in the Sicilian Strait – an area known as a "last stronghold" in the Mediterranean for several endangered shark species.

An important goal of their project was to deploy a tracking device onto a great white – something that has remained unachieved in the Mediterranean Sea.

To try this, the researchers used a large amount of bait – including frozen mackerel and tuna scraps and 500 litres of scent oil to create a "fat slick" that many sharks can sense from far off.

After two weeks of work – baiting the ocean, sampling for DNA to look for genetic material and using remote cameras – the researchers were unable to locate any sharks to tag.

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

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

While the team was searching for surviving sharks, they also learned that a juvenile great white had been caught and killed in a regional fishery – just 20 nautical miles from where they were working.

It is uncertain whether that shark was caught by accident in fishing gear, or if it was hunted.

The team, however, estimates that in excess of 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 scientists, along with local partners, are observing various harbors in the region. Findings shows that protected sharks are caught, landed and offered for sale in countries including several North African nations.

The regulations safeguarding sharks are multifaceted. Currently, 24 threatened species have global protection – like makos and hammerheads.

An multinational pact states that those species cannot be "kept on boats, transferred, landed, stored, or sold".

The agreement mandates "they must be returned to the sea alive [where] possible". Those rules are not designed for incidental capture and enforcement is variable from one place to another.

A conservationist noted that his own research found a number of sharks on sale. But, he said, there was a paradoxical element of hope in the fact that white sharks were turning up for sale.

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

What Can Be Done?

In economically challenged regions in North Africa, fishermen 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 regional marine biologist. "If you support them and train them in more responsible fishing, they will not catch these sharks."

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

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