STRAIT OF SICILY — Underwater footage of a great white shark was captured during a ghost net removal dive in the Strait of Sicily. The sighting marks a rare occurrence for the critically endangered species in the Mediterranean Sea.
Derk Remmers, a volunteer technical diver with the Ghost Diving organization, participated in a mission organized by the Healthy Seas foundation. This mission focused on removing abandoned fishing nets and equipment from underwater locations between Italy and Tunisia. No injuries took place during the underwater encounter.
The shark approached within nine feet of the divers before swimming away. Remmers estimated that 1% to 10% of commercial fishing gear globally is lost annually, exceeding 500,000 tons. He said, "The shark was pretty close to us, and in fact my fingers were trembling when I was trying to get the camera operating." He said, "The big animal circled the team before it turned around and vanished into the blue."
The International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed the great white shark as critically endangered in the Mediterranean Sea since 2016. Great white sharks inhabit the Mediterranean, but sightings are rare and generally happen near the water's surface. Some divers consider the footage to be the first underwater video of a great white shark in the Mediterranean.
Healthy Seas identifies the dive site as a key biodiversity hotspot and one of the most heavily exploited fishing areas in the Mediterranean. Previous expeditions at this site documented loggerhead sea turtles and other large fish trapped in abandoned fishing gear. The dive team recovered large sections of abandoned fishing netting for disposal or recycling.
Remmers noted the unlikelihood of the encounter. He said, "Statistically, it is way more likely to win the lotto jackpot than to meet such an iconic animal underwater. You spend decades diving wrecks and removing ghost nets, but nothing prepares you for a moment like this." Veronika Mikos, director of Healthy Seas, said, "Moments like this remind us how much life can still exist in offshore Mediterranean waters and how important it is to protect it from preventable threats like abandoned fishing gear or overfishing."