Tracking the Last Mediterranean White Sharks





Centuries of coastal fishing, and more recently, industrial exploitation have severely impacted this population, which, in the last few decades, has declined to very low levels of abundance. They were historically abundant and widely distributed in the region, and now they are critically endangered. We don’t know how many sharks are left and still know very little about their ecology and biology to protect them.
Because they are scarce and have no aggregation areas similar to other regions, studying them in the field has always been challenging. To address this challenge, we started a multi-institutional monitoring program on white sharks in the Mediterranean Sea.
Yachts For Science: Sailing superyacht helps with ground-breaking shark research in the Mediterranean
Research Team
Francesco Ferretti
Assistant Professor, Virginia Tech
Taylor Chapple
Assistant Professor, Oregon State
James Glancy
Conservationist and Filmmaker
Khaled Echwikhi
Professor, University of Gabès
Sara Al Mabruk
Research Scientist, Marine Biology in Libya Society
Robbie Schallert
Research Scientist, Stanford University
Barbara Block
Professor, Stanford University
David Curnick
Research Associate, Zoological Society of London
Austin Gallagher
Chief Science Officer, Beneath the Waves
Jeremy Jenrette
PhD Candidate, Virginia Tech
Brendan Shea
PhD Candidate, Virginia Tech
Stefano Moro
Postdoctoral Fellow, Statzione Zoologica Anton Dohrn
Chiara Gambardella
PhD Student, Università Politecnica delle Marche
Chiheb Lemsi
Masters Student, University of Gabes
Maissa Chatti
PhD Student, University of Gabes
Hani Berriche
Masters Student, University of Gabes