Divers Film First Underwater Great White Shark

Although great white sharks have sometimes been seen at the surface in the Mediterranean, the species had never before been filmed underwater in the region. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the Mediterranean population as critically endangered, and scientists believe decades of overfishing have pushed the apex predator close to extinction. Remmers stressed how unlikely the sighting was, saying it is statistically more likely to win the lottery jackpot than to meet such an animal underwater. Experts said the public should not be alarmed, because the shark was far from shore and showed no aggression toward the divers.

Conservationists hope the rare sighting will encourage Mediterranean governments to create marine protected areas. The footage was filmed during a mission to remove so-called "ghost nets" — discarded fishing gear that traps and kills sea life. Healthy Seas director Veronika Mikos said the encounter showed how much life can still exist in offshore Mediterranean waters, and how important it is to protect it from preventable threats like overfishing.