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Volunteer Diver Captures Rare Great White Shark Footage in ...
Volunteer Diver Captures Rare Great White Shark Footage in ...
A volunteer diver experienced a heart-pounding encounter with one of the Mediterranean’s rarest visitors – an endangered Great White shark – while diving in waters between Tunisia and Sicily. The diver, who was visibly shaking during the encounter, managed to capture extraordinary footage of the massive predator in its natural habitat.
Great White sharks are extremely rare in the Mediterranean Sea, making this sighting particularly significant for marine conservation efforts. These apex predators were once more common in Mediterranean waters but have experienced severe population declines due to overfishing, habitat degradation, and accidental capture in fishing nets. The species is now classified as endangered in the region, with scientists estimating that only a few dozen individuals may remain in the entire Mediterranean basin.
The encounter occurred in the channel between Tunisia’s coast and the Italian island of Sicily, an area known for its rich marine biodiversity. This corridor serves as a crucial migration route for various marine species traveling between the eastern and western Mediterranean basins. The pres…
Great White shark filmed in Med for first time as divers come face-to ...
Great White shark filmed in Med for first time as divers come face-to ...
A Great White shark has been captured on video in the Mediterranean Sea for the first time. Divers came face-to-face with the 15ft beast –
which can weigh up to 4,000lb
– during a mission to clear netting from a shipwreck.
It is thought overfishing has contributed to driving the species to
near extinction in the Mediterranean
and there are only a few hundred left in the sea.
The incredible footage – believed to be the
first time the creature has been filmed in its natural habitat
under water in the Med – shows the massive shark swimming close to the wreck and divers between Sicily and Tunisia.
View 3 Images
Rare footage of a great white shark in the Med
(Image: BBC)
Volunteer diver Derk Remmers told the BBC it was "pretty special," adding: "The shark was there, pretty close to the wreck and pretty close to us in fact. It swam away, turned around and came back.
"In fact, my fingers were trembling when I was trying to get the camera operating. But on the other hand, I think my biggest fear was that I couldn't get the camera running so I couldn't record this rare event.
"It's important to me that no one gets …
Diver has rare encounter with Great White shark in Mediterranean
Diver has rare encounter with Great White shark in Mediterranean
<p>Volunteer clearing fishing nets from wreck off Sicily says fingers trembled while videoing creature; hopes it doesn't spark hunt for endangered species, which was spotted far from shore</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/diver-has-rare-encounter-with-great-white-shark-in-mediterranean/">Diver has rare encounter with Great White shark in Mediterranean</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com">The Times of Israel</a>.</p>
<figure><img src="https://static-cdn.toi-media.com/www/uploads/2026/06/275325.jpg" title="Diver has rare encounter with Great White shark in Mediterranean" border="0" width="160" height="100" class="type:primaryImage"></figure>
Rare footage captured of Great White shark in Mediterranean Sea
Rare footage captured of Great White shark in Mediterranean Sea
A volunteer diver has described shaking as he filmed his encounter with an endangered Great White shark between Tunisia and Sicily.
Rare footage of Mediterranean great white shark captured by ghost diver
Rare footage of Mediterranean great white shark captured by ghost diver
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Summary
A volunteer diver removing abandoned fishing nets from a Mediterranean shipwreck encountered a great white shark more than 132 feet below the surface.
The sighting between Sicily and Tunisia may be the first filmed evidence of a Mediterranean great white in over 40 years.
Great white sharks in the Mediterranean are critically endangered due to decades of overfishing and entanglement in ghost nets.
AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.
More than 132 feet below sea level, a diver was removing abandoned fishing nets from a
shipwreck
in the Mediterranean Sea when he had an
encounter
that would be the stuff of many people’s nightmares.
Somewhere between the white beaches of Sicily and the dramatic coastline of Tunisia, Derk Remmers was working as a volunteer when he came face to face with a
great white shark.
As a member of Ghost Diving Foundation, a charity run by technical divers specialized in the removal of lost fishing gear and debris from the waters, Remmers often retrieves ghost nets – former fishing nets…
Rare footage of Mediterranean great white shark captured by ghost diver
Rare footage of Mediterranean great white shark captured by ghost diver
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Derk Remmers captured rare footage of a Mediterranean great white shark in May.
The encounter occurred during a ghost-net removal mission organized by Healthy Seas.
Great white sharks are critically endangered in the Mediterranean due to overfishing and bycatch.
TUNIS, Tunisia — More than 132 feet below sea level, a diver was removing abandoned fishing nets from a shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea when he had an encounter that would be the stuff of many people's nightmares.
Somewhere between the white beaches of Sicily and the dramatic coastline of Tunisia, Derk Remmers was working as a volunteer when he came face to face with a great white shark.
As a member of Ghost Diving Foundation, a charity run by technical divers specialized in the removal of lost fishing gear and debris from the waters, Remmers often retrieves ghost nets – former fishing nets left at sea – before they become deathly traps for marine life.
"Scientists say that around 3 to 10% of all fishing gear is lost in any given year, in the oceans of the world," Remmers told CNN Monday. "And if you could imagine how many fishing boat…
Divers Removing Ghost Nets Capture First Underwater Footage of Great ...
Divers Removing Ghost Nets Capture First Underwater Footage of Great ...
Divers Removing Ghost Nets Capture First Underwater Footage of Great White Shark in the Mediterranean
The encounter took place during a high-seas mission to remove ghost nets trapping marine life on an offshore shipwreck between Sicily and Tunisia.
Credits: Derk Remmers, Ghost Diving
Divers Removing Ghost Nets Capture First Underwater Footage of Great White Shark in the Mediterranean
The encounter took place during a high-seas mission to remove ghost nets trapping marine life on an offshore shipwreck between Sicily and Tunisia.
PRESS RELEASE – 8 JUNE 2026 – WORLD OCEANS DAY
During a high-seas ghost-net removal mission organized by the Healthy Seas Foundation together with project partners Ghost Diving and SDSS (The Society for Documentation of Submerged Sites), divers documented what is believed to be
the first underwater footage captured of a
n adult great white shark in the Mediterranean Sea
in his natural habitat.
While rare surface sightings have occasionally occurred in the region, underwater encounters filmed by divers have never before been documented.
The encounter occurred
while the team was working…
Volunteer Diver Captures Rare Great White Shark Footage in the ...
Volunteer Diver Captures Rare Great White Shark Footage in the ...
Volunteer Diver Captures Rare Great White Shark Footage in the Mediterranean
By
Blaze Trends Tech & Science Desk
June 8, 2026
Science
A volunteer diver has recorded extraordinarily rare video footage of an endangered Great White shark swimming in the Mediterranean Sea. The encounter took place in the Strait of Sicily, a stretch of water between Tunisia and Sicily that marine biologists consider the species’ last stronghold in the region. The diver recalled “shaking” while filming the predator, providing researchers with vital visual evidence of a population pushed to the edge of extinction.
The sighting, confirmed by a
BBC News video report
published Monday morning, is a rare bright spot for marine biology. The International Union for Conservation of Nature currently classifies the Mediterranean Great White as critically endangered. Over the past few years, extensive scientific expeditions to this exact region have failed to tag or even spot a single specimen, making this volunteer’s recording an exceptional victory for marine science.
The Fight to Protect the Strait of Sicily
This footage offers a necessary data p…
Rare footage captured of Great White shark in Mediterranean Sea
Rare footage captured of Great White shark in Mediterranean Sea
A volunteer diver has described shaking as he filmed his encounter with an endangered Great White shark between Tunisia and Sicily.
Corroboration
No verdict, no pronouncement. The model extracts atomic factual claims with verbatim quotes; every quote is validated against the source text and corroboration is computed by counting how many editorially-opposed blocs assert each fact.
The spine · 4 facts corroborated across ≥2 opposed blocs
3×broadly confirmedA volunteer diver filmed a Great White shark in the Mediterranean Sea between Tunisia and Sicily.
israelotherwestern
bbc“Rare footage captured of Great White shark in Mediterranean Sea”
timesofisrael“Diver has rare encounter with Great White shark in Mediterranean”
envirolink.org“Volunteer Diver Captures Rare Great White Shark Footage in ...”
3×broadly confirmedThe volunteer diver was shaking during the encounter with the Great White shark.
israelotherwestern
bbc“A volunteer diver has described shaking as he filmed his encounter with an endangered Great White shark between Tunisia and Sicily.”
timesofisrael“Volunteer clearing fishing nets from wreck off Sicily says fingers trembled while videoing creature”
envirolink.org“The diver, who was visibly shaking during the encounter, managed to capture extraordinary footage of the massive predator in its natural habitat.”
3×broadly confirmedThe Great White shark spotted in the Mediterranean Sea between Tunisia and Sicily is an endangered species.
israelotherwestern
bbc“Rare footage captured of Great White shark in Mediterranean Sea”
timesofisrael“hopes it doesn't spark hunt for endangered species, which was spotted far from shore”
envirolink.org“a volunteer diver experienced a heart-pounding encounter with one of the Mediterranean’s rarest visitors – an endangered Great White shark”
2×broadly confirmedThe encounter occurred in the waters between Tunisia and Sicily.
otherwestern
bbc“filmed his encounter with an endangered Great White shark between Tunisia and Sicily.”
envirolink.org“The encounter occurred in the channel between Tunisia’s coast and the Italian island of Sicily”
Single-source · 4 — reported by one bloc only (uncorroborated)
Great White sharks are extremely rare in the Mediterranean Sea.
envirolink.org
Great White sharks in the Mediterranean have experienced severe population declines due to overfishing, habitat degradation, and accidental capture in fishing nets.
envirolink.org
Scientists estimate that only a few dozen Great White sharks may remain in the entire Mediterranean basin.
envirolink.org
The diver was clearing fishing nets from a wreck off Sicily.
timesofisrael
Framing · 7 — loaded language surfaced (spin shown, not adopted)
bbc
“shaking as he filmed his encounter”
→ The diver was shaking during the encounter.
timesofisrael
“fingers trembled while videoing creature”
→ The diver was shaking during the encounter.
timesofisrael
“hopes it doesn't spark hunt for endangered species”
→ The diver expressed concern that the footage might lead to a hunt for the species.
envirolink.org
“heart-pounding encounter”
→ The diver experienced a highly intense encounter.
envirolink.org
“rarest visitors”
→ Great White sharks are rare in the Mediterranean.
envirolink.org
“massive predator”
→ The shark was a large animal.
envirolink.org
“crucial migration route”
→ The area between Tunisia and Sicily is used by marine species for migration.