Great white shark spotted in waters off south of France

A great white shark has been spotted in waters off the south of France, a rare sighting in this area of the Mediterranean according to experts. 

The four-metre long shark was spotted by a fisherman off the islands of Porquerolles and Port-Cros, part of the Port-Cros National Park in the Var department, at the start of November.

In a video taken by the fisherman and uploaded to Facebook, the shark can be seen swimming close to the boat, its fin sticking out of the water. It is accompanied by several fish. 

Experts at France’s Natural History Museum in Paris, and the Groupe Phocéen d'Étude des Requins (Phocean Shark Research Group - GPER) confirmed the shark in the video was a great white. 

The shark was probably “a young one, not a juvenile, but not yet an adult”, Nicolas Ziani, scientific director of the GPER, told France 3. 

“In the Mediterranean, it can be confused with a Mako shark, which is very present,” he said. 

How common are great white sharks in France?

While there are over 50 species of shark in the Mediterranean, according to GPER, great white sharks are very rare and are classed as an endangered species, with over 90% estimated to have disappeared.

Since the Middle Ages, only around 100 shark attacks have been recorded in the Mediterranean and France. The last fatal attack took place off the coast of Italy in 1989, according to GPER. 

The latest sighting has been welcomed by experts. 

“This is great news for this species, classified as critically endangered and having almost disappeared from the Mediterranean,” Matthieu Lapinski, president of Ailerons, the shark league for the Atlantic and Mediterranean, told Nice Matin. 

Researchers are urging members of the public to get in touch if they think they may have spotted a great white shark off the French coast. They can send any reports or videos to phoceashark@gmail.com