For the first time, a great white shark has been captured on video in the Mediterranean Sea. Divers encountered the massive 15-foot beast, which can weigh up to 4,000 pounds, while clearing netting from a shipwreck. Overfishing has driven the species to near extinction in the Mediterranean, with only a few hundred individuals remaining.
Rare Footage Captured
The incredible footage, believed to be the first underwater recording of an adult great white shark in its natural habitat in the Mediterranean, shows the shark swimming near the wreck and divers between Sicily and Tunisia. Volunteer diver Derk Remmers, part of a team from the NGO Healthy Seas, described the experience as "pretty special."
"The shark was there, pretty close to the wreck and pretty close to us in fact. It swam away, turned around and came back," Remmers told the BBC. "My fingers were trembling when I was trying to get the camera operating. But on the other hand, I think my biggest fear was that I couldn't get the camera running so I couldn't record this rare event."
No Cause for Alarm
Remmers emphasized that people should not be scared. "It was offshore, it was in the central Mediterranean, it was not close to the beach where people could feel endangered. And this footage doesn't start any hunt for the great white shark," he added. Scientists confirmed the shark, believed to be an adult male, was spotted many miles offshore.
Conservation Hope
Conservationists hope the sighting may encourage governments to create marine protected areas in Mediterranean waters. The footage was captured during a mission to highlight the problem of "ghost fishing nets"—fishing gear lost at sea that continues to trap and kill marine life years after abandonment.
Remmers reflected on the encounter: "We feel somehow blessed to have this encounter, which also shows us the importance of our work. Because if a predator like that is hunting close to this wreck, that also means that there's a big amount of fish and a big amount of animals he could hunt there. And if they are trapped, there's also a chance we trap some of these predators. And if we trap them—there are only very few around there—that would be a big disaster."
