The iconic great white in the Mediterranean basin are in danger of disappearing, with unlawful fishing practices being a significant driver to their worrying decrease.
This assessment is based on research by scientists, who worked alongside an marine preservation group. They indicate that several critically endangered species – like the great white shark – are found on sale in ports across North Africa.
Great whites are one of in excess of 20 Mediterranean shark species shielded by international agreements, which prohibits to fish for them or to trade them.
However, by surveying docks along the North African Mediterranean shoreline, investigators uncovered 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 confirmed.
One piece of footage showed a sizeable great white shark being pulled from a boat from a trawler in Algeria. Additional footage, taken in a Tunisian location, shows remains and fins of what appears to be a protected mako, which is also a threatened and protected species.
Remaining Habitat
The project head, clarified that many shark species – white sharks in particular – 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 impact of industrial fishing has been increasing... and it's plausible that they will vanish in the coming years."
The Mediterranean white shark population is now classified as Critically Endangered by the global conservation union.
In their latest attempt 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 endangered shark species.
One key aim of their project was to attach a satellite tag onto a shark – something that has remained unachieved in the Mediterranean Sea.
To do this, the researchers used more than three tonnes of fish bait – including frozen mackerel and tuna scraps and 500 litres of tuna oil to create a "scent trail" that many sharks can sense from far off.
Even after a fortnight of effort – baiting the ocean, taking samples of seawater to test for environmental DNA and using subsea cameras – the researchers did not manage to find any specimens.
They captured only a short sighting of one blue shark species on their cameras.
"It's disappointing," the lead researcher said. "It just shows how damaged this ecosystem is."
As the team searched for living sharks, they also were informed that a young great white shark had been caught and killed in a fishery off North Africa – just a short distance from where they were working.
It is uncertain whether that animal was ensnared unintentionally in fishing gear, or if it was hunted.
The team, however, believes that over forty great white sharks have been harvested in that area. "This is a lot for a critically endangered population," the researcher emphasized.
Illegal Shark Trade
The team, along with colleagues in North Africa, are observing various harbors in the region. Findings shows that sharks under protection are captured, brought to port, and sold in countries including Tunisia and Algeria.
The regulations safeguarding sharks are complicated. Currently, two dozen endangered species have treaty-based safeguards – such as makos, angel sharks, threshers, and hammerheads.
An multinational pact 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 alive [where] possible". Those rules do not address incidental capture and enforcement is variable from nation to nation.
A expert noted that his own inquiry found several great whites 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 preserve this, there is a chance of recovery."
What Can Be Done?
In less affluent areas in North Africa, fishing communities 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 need food for their children?" asked a scientist. "If you support them and train them in more responsible fishing, they will not catch these sharks."
A conservationist added that if countries around the Mediterranean worked together, "there is hope."
"But," he stated, "we've got to act very quickly."
