Great white sightings 'seasonal'

By ANNE BESTON and NZPA

Great white shark sightings this month do not mean there are more around than usual, a shark biologist says.

Police believed they saw a great white shark in Wellington Harbour at the weekend and paua divers have called for a seal cull after increased sightings of white pointers around seal colonies on the Wairarapa coast.

The sightings follow the catching of a monster pregnant great white off Waiheke Island last week.

Commercial paua diver Trevor Emerson said a great white nudged one of his divers while working off Flat Pt, south of Masterton, this month.

The diver estimated the shark at 4.8m.

"There are a lot of seal pups in the water and these great whites are coming in more and more," he said.

But shark expert Clinton Duffy said the sightings were probably seasonal as the big sharks came closer inshore to feed over the summer months.

All divers faced some risk.

"I grew up diving off the Wairarapa coast so I'm not unsympathetic but in terms of diving around seal colonies, the increased risk of attack has been well known for more than two decades."

Department of Conservation Wairarapa area manager Derrick Field said seals were a protected species and there would be no cull.

The colonies are a favourite hunting ground and scientists believe sharks sometimes mistake divers for seals.

A monster shark initially thought to be a great white cruising Wellington waters on Sunday has been identified as a harmless basking shark. Police had put out a warning about the 5m shark.