Shark on sale: Why Tunisia is struggling to stop illegal fishing of endangered species

Illicit fish sales at the central market in Tunis highlight the country’s overfishing problem with several species of shark and ray under threat of extinction, reports Simon Speakman Cordall

File photo: People shop in a fish market in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, 14 December 2021 (AFP via Getty Images)

Despite the cold, the energy in Tunis’s central market is palpable.

Stallholders shout to attract shoppers to their frozen trays of brightly coloured sea creatures with many containing the usual suspects such as octopus, mussels and prawns, but others with a more unusual offering: shark.

Shark sightings in the Mediterranean are rare. Attacks are unheard of. Nevertheless, 86 species of shark and ray make the Mediterranean their home, from the great white to the slight dogfish. Of these, 24 are under threat, with close to a third already pushed to near-extinction.