With more people heading to the beaches this summer, there are bound to be sightings of sharks off the Hawke's Bay coastline, says shark expert Clinton Duffy.
Mr Duffy, who is a Department of Conservation (DoC) advisor, says sharks are "always present" in good numbers in the region's waters.
Based in Hawke's
Bay for seven years from 1991, Mr Duffy said he saw many big sharks up close in our waters.
Great whites were more abundant in the winter months but in summer "there will always be the odd one knocking around - every year people see one or two in Hawke's Bay".
They were caught by Pourerere fishermen "every year".
New Zealand was a global "hot spot' for the predators because they evolved in this part of the world and a rich fishery kept them here, he said.
"New Zealand waters are highly productive - especially this time of year."
Over summer species such as bronze whaler, hammerhead, blue, Mako and thresher sharks moved into Hawke's Bay waters.
"Blue sharks and Makos are really abundant and you get the odd one - particularly blue sharks - that come in close to the coast."
Blue sharks were usually found in water warmer than 18C, but great whites could be found "in virtually any temperature".
He said seals were an important part of its diet in New Zealand waters and had found fur seals in the stomachs of great white sharks caught locally.
Annual counts at the four fur seal haul-out places - Herbertville, Kairakau, Bare Island, and Cape Kidnappers showed a steady population increase. East Coast breeding started about six years ago.
Bare Island is very close to Waimarama's popular bathing beach.
He said fur seals were probably caught while foraging because local breeding colonies were small - seals did 500km round trips to feed.
"If you go offshore anywhere around New Zealand you will find groups of seals."
They often fed at night and could be seen sleeping on the surface during the day when they were "quite vulnerable to sharks".
DoC marine ranger Rod Hansen said seal populations were recovering steadily from the days of commercial sealing, with populations increasingly moving north and the creatures increasingly coming ashore in Napier.
He said dolphins were another regular feature of the region's waters.
"I see dolphins all the time - all over the place," he said.
"There wouldn't be a week we don't see them. Sometimes for as far as the eye can see - like five miles of dolphins travelling - huge numbers."
He said about five times a year humpback whales travelled up the coast.
On Christmas Eve a young pygmy sperm whale was successfully refloated at Westshore Beach by lifeguards and members of the public, using a blanket and DoC phone directions.
Mr Hansen expected to soon see orca off the Central Hawke's Bay coast.
In April a pod of about seven orca entertained crowds as they dipped and dived in the shallow waters off Ahuriri. Orca Research Trust founder and principal scientist Ingrid Visser said their presence in Hawke's Bay was soon "very likely". On Monday orca were spotted off Tauranga, heading in this direction.
Last year, Mr Hansen was involved in a dolphin rescue at Blackhead Beach after they were hunted by orca. A large dolphin pod travelled along the beach fleeing from orcas. The pod returned, followed by the orcas, to a baby dolphin and its mother stranded on a reef by the outgoing tide. With locals Mr Hansen carried the mother and 1m calf using beach towels as a sling. They were moved from the shallow water to the sea, with the calf moved first.
Tail of the tape
Mako sharks in Hawke's Bay are some of the biggest in the world - up to 3.7m long and 415kg.
Blue sharks in Hawke's Bay reach up to 3.3m and 110kg. Bronze whalers are the same length but weigh 180-280kg.
Hammerheads are 2.8-3m long and weigh 100-120kg.
Great whites (pictured) are up to 4m long in Hawke's Bay but can grow more than 6m.
Short-tailed stingrays have wingspans up to 4m.
Other large sea creatures found in Hawke's Bay are whales, sun fish, marlin, spear fish and tuna.
