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Waihī Beach and Bowentown have had an increase of shark sightings including a great white shark.
Coromandel beachgoers were stunned when a 1.5 m shark was spotted near the steps to the beach, in just 40 cm of shallow water.
Dalena Rochat was on Waihī beach on Thursday when she spotted a shark’s fin, very close to the steps at Ayr street and the Loop, as two teenage girls exited the water.
”I looked down and was surprised to see it so close in such shallow water. The girls had only just got out of the water after their swim when they turned around and shouted ‘whoa’.”
The teens quickly alerted other swimmers.
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“They quickly ran up the beach to let a man know who was just about to take a dip with his two children.”
Rochat was not sure what type of shark it was.
”I’m not an expert so could only describe it as grey with a fin, and about 1.5 m. I’m fully aware there are sharks in the water as I live here and do waka ama in an outrigger, but I have never seen one come so close to the steps before.”
She had spotted two similar sharks earlier in the week on Monday,
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“They were about the same size,1.5 m, and I spotted their fins close together as though they were swimming in tandem. Quite strange to see. Those two were near the beach but not as close as today.”
Another beachgoer, John Dougal, put a warning out to the community on the Waihī beach noticeboard.
“Between 2pm and 2.40pm today spotted a 1.5-2 m shark in very shallow water by the middle steps. Very slow moving, maybe 4-5 m out. Take care if swimming,” he wrote.
On March 11, a great white shark was in Coromandel waters near Tairua, just offshore of Alderman Island, shark scientist Riley Elliot said.
Surf Life Saving New Zealand Eastern Region Life Saving manager Chaz Gibbons-Campbell said the teenagers did the right thing warning other beachgoers, as the lifeguards are not currently on patrol at the beaches during the week.
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Great white sharks are individually recognisable from their colour pattern, particularly around their gills and on the tail, and the pattern of notches on the trailing edges of their dorsal fins.
”Good on them for doing that, they did the right thing.”
Surf Lifesaving protocol is to warn swimmers of a shark sighting with a whistle and loud haler.
“We would get people to exit calmly, so as not to create panic. Since the fatal shark attack lifeguards and vehicles have loudspeakers on. If swimmers were far out then we’d hop on a jetski or boat to reach them to let them know.”
After a sighting it is recommended to stay out of the water for at least half an hour, he said.
“After a sighting we’d take the flags down for half an hour. Sharks do come to the shallows to bask in the water – but more so if people are throwing entrails in the water after fishing. There are bylaws prohibiting that, and we’d like people to dispose of them correctly as that does attract sharks quickly who come in for a feed.”
Waihī Beach was the location of Aotearoa’s last fatal shark attack in 2021, when Hamilton swimmer Kaelah Marlow was bitten by a great white at the Bowentown end of Waihī Beach in 2021.
A coroner’s investigation into Marlow’s tragic death, released in 2022, recommended more research on sharks into the number of great white sharks in New Zealand waters, and the provision of drone technology for surf lifeguards.
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