Shark leap has couple jumping

By ANNE BESTON

A leaping shark had a Torbay couple reaching for the nearest "weapon" - their runabout's spare anchor - while they were out fishing in the Rangitoto Channel.

Anne Huddleston and her husband, Fred Bauer, were about 1km off Torbay in 20m-deep water, about 7 pm on Monday when they heard an almighty splash.

As Mr Bauer looked up, a grey-and-white shark, almost as long as his 4.5m aluminium dinghy, leaped out of the water, he said.

"I don't know much about sharks but I thought they were normally in the water, not leaping out of it."

As he drew his wife's attention to the spot, the shark again leaped vertically out of the sea about 30m away.

"I was quite fascinated - I hoped it would come a bit closer so we could get a better look," said Mr Bauer.

But his wife had other ideas.

"I grabbed a second lifejacket and an anchor," Ms Huddleston said. "I know it sounds ridiculous, but we were quite far out and the only boat around."

The couple, both clinical psychologists, do not usually fish in that particular spot, but a big swell meant they stayed closer to shore than usual.

Mr Bauer said he had seen plenty of dolphins but he and his wife were quite certain the big fish they saw was a shark.

"We had absolutely no doubts, but I just cursed at not having a camera. You could go the rest of your life and not see what we saw," Ms Huddleston said.

Department of Conservation marine scientist Clinton Duffy said he was not surprised at the sighting.

"The channel is full of sharks; there are lots of them out there all the time."

Mr Duffy said mako sharks commonly jumped out of the water but scientists did not know why.

"It might have been trying to dislodge a parasite or it might just have over-shot the mark while fishing.

"It could even have been trying to throw a hook."

Hammerheads, blue sharks and mako sharks were all found near the channel, Mr Duffy said.

The Torbay sighting is the second close encounter between sharks and humans in New Zealand in less than a week. A great white shark tipped a kayaker out of his boat at Whananaki off the Northland east coast on Saturday.

Last week, experienced fishermen said they saw a great white shark 500m from shore at Hahei Beach, on the Coromandel Peninsula, and last month a 2.6m shark was caught in a net 300m off the Takapuna Beach boat ramp - near the Rangitoto Channel.

This summer, great whites have been spotted at Whitianga and near Maketu in the eastern Bay of Plenty as well as off the Gisborne coast.

Mr Duffy said shark attacks were rare in New Zealand and no one had died from one since 1976.