Great white sharks in the Mediterranean waters are on the verge of vanishing, with illegal fishing being a significant driver to their alarming decline.
This conclusion is based on research by scientists, who partnered with an international conservation charity. They note that various at-risk marine animals – like the great white shark – are appearing for sale in marketplaces across Northern African nations.
Great whites are one of in excess of 20 Mediterranean shark species protected under international law, which renders it unlawful to target them or to offer them for sale.
However, by observing harbors along the coastline of North Africa, the research team found that at least 40 great white sharks have been caught and killed there in just the past year.
Social media clips showing sharks under protection being landed at North African ports has been confirmed.
A particular clip showed a large great white being pulled from a boat from a vessel in an Algerian port. A separate video, filmed in Tunisia, shows parts of what looks like a protected mako, which is also a threatened and protected species.
Remaining Habitat
The lead researcher, explained that many shark populations – great whites especially – had plummeted in the Mediterranean in the past years.
"No other sea is subjected to such fishing pressure as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The impact of industrial fishing has been intensifying... and it's likely that they will become extinct in the near future."
The Mediterranean white shark population is now classified as Critically Endangered by the key international body.
In their latest attempt to find and study the sharks, the team worked in the Strait of Sicily – an area considered a "last stronghold" in the Mediterranean for several sharks at risk.
A primary objective of their expedition was to attach a satellite tag onto a white shark – something that has not yet been accomplished in the Mediterranean Sea.
To do this, the researchers used a large amount of fish bait – including frozen mackerel and tuna scraps and a substantial volume of fish oil to create a "scent trail" that many sharks can smell from hundreds of metres away.
Even after a fortnight of effort – baiting the ocean, taking samples of seawater to search for shark DNA and using subsea cameras – the researchers were unable to locate any sharks to tag.
They captured only a short sighting of one blue shark species on their submarine cameras.
"It's disappointing," the lead researcher said. "It just shows how depleted this marine environment is."
While the team was searching for living sharks, they also learned that a small great white had been caught and killed in a fishery off North Africa – just not far from where they were working.
It is not clear whether that animal was accidentally caught in nets or lines, or if it was targeted.
The team, however, believes that in excess of 40 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 endangered sharks are captured, brought to port, and sold in countries including Tunisia and Algeria.
The rules that protect sharks are complex. Currently, numerous species have global protection – such as makos, angel sharks, threshers, 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 released alive [where] possible". Those rules do not tackle accidental bycatch and compliance varies from one place to another.
A conservationist noted that his own investigation found several great whites on sale. But, he said, there was a paradoxical element of hope in the fact that white sharks were appearing in trade.
"It shows that there is animals still there," he said. "And if we can preserve this, there is a chance of recovery."
The Path Forward
In poorer communities in North Africa, fishermen who catch sharks might face the decision 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 need food for their children?" asked a regional marine biologist. "If you assist and guide them in more responsible fishing, they will not catch these sharks."
Another expert added that if countries around the Mediterranean collaborated, "there is hope."
"But," he added, "we've got to act very quickly."
