a great white shark swimming in the ocean

Divers Film First Underwater Great White in Mediterranean

scienceJun 16, 2026·378 words·3 min read

A team of volunteer divers has captured what is believed to be the first underwater footage of a great white shark in the Mediterranean Sea. The encounter took place in May in the Strait of Sicily, a stretch of water between the Italian island of Sicily and Tunisia, many miles offshore. Derk Remmers, a technical diver working with the conservation groups Ghost Diving and Healthy Seas, was recovering abandoned fishing nets from a shipwreck when the shark — believed to be an adult male — emerged from the gloom.

Great white sharks are sometimes seen at the surface in the Mediterranean, but the animal had never been filmed underwater there before. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) says the Mediterranean group of sharks is critically endangered — very close to dying out. Scientists believe years of overfishing are the main reason. Remmers said it is more likely to win the lottery than to see such a shark underwater. Experts said people should not worry, because the shark stayed far from the coast.

Conservationists hope the rare video will push Mediterranean governments to create protected areas at sea. The divers filmed it while removing "ghost nets" — lost fishing gear that traps and kills sea animals. Veronika Mikos of Healthy Seas said the moment showed how much life still lives in these waters.

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