Shark sighted ‘lurking’ close to surfers off Great Barrier Island

A shark sighting off Great Barrier island.

Holiday-makers travelling to Great Barrier Island looked down on an unnerving scene from their plane as a shark “lurked” close to a group of surfers off Kaitoke beach.

Deborah Pead told the Weekend Herald that she was taking photos of the scenery over the Medlands and Kaitoke beach as the plane was preparing to land at Claris airport.

“Everyone with window seats started saying ‘shark, shark!’ And so I stopped taking pictures and clear as daylight could see the shark swimming close to the surfers,” she said.

“It was only after we had landed I checked my images and saw the lurking shark in the corner of one of them.”

On Monday, shark scientist, Dr Riley Elliott tagged a great white inside the northern end of Matakana Island by the Bowentown entrance in the Bay of Plenty.

Mananui, named by the area’s hapū Te Whānau a Tauwhao, was the “largest great white tagged so far” at 3.2m long.

The Great White App, that tracks tagged sharks, shows Mananui last surfaced off the coast of Kaitoke Beach, Great Barrier Island, around 10am yesterday.

In a post on social media, Elliot said Mananui was classified as a sub-adult, meaning she was no longer a juvenile but not yet reproductively mature.

At this size, great whites generally fed on seals, he said.

Mananui is named by Te Whānau a Tauwhao, the hapū of the area where she was tagged in the Bay of Plenty by shark scientist Riley Elliott in January. She 3.2m long great white shark.

“Her presence was awe-inspiring in size and demeanour. She wears battle scars and scratches but was cautious and calculated.”

Elliott had identified the great white as having lived in the area for the past three summers through photos taken by fishermen.

“Like Mananui the pā, she represents a stronghold presence of prestige and great mana.”