Divers document rare great white shark sighting in the Strait of Sicily

Volunteer divers from the organizations Ghost Diving, Healthy Seas, and the Society for Documentation of Submerged Sites (SDSS) encountered a great white shark while removing abandoned fishing nets from a shipwreck. The incident took place at a depth of 40 meters in the Strait of Sicily, an area located between Tunisia and Sicily. Dirk Remmers, a lead volunteer diver, captured footage of the animal, which experts believe may be the first underwater recording of an adult great white shark in the Mediterranean. The shark reportedly exhibited calm and curious behavior, circling the divers before swimming away, and no aggression was observed. While the great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) is classified as vulnerable globally, its Mediterranean population is considered at critical risk of extinction by the IUCN. Attacks on humans by this species have never been recorded in the Mediterranean. The mission aimed to clear hazardous ghost nets that continue to trap marine life long after being discarded.