Shark swims too close for comfort

A bull shark. Photo / File / Thinkstock

A one-metre shark gave swimmers a scare at a Hawkes Bay beach yesterday.

But the Department of Conservation says the shark is no cause for alarm.

A Napier woman reported seeing the shark while looking after four children in a shallow part of the water yesterday afternoon at Sandy Beach near Ahuriri.

She told the children to stand still while the shark swam by and around to rocks at the beach.

DoC's shark expert and marine species scientific officer, Clinton Duffy, said a 1m shark was not a threat.

"They are not considered a risk until they get to about 1.8m long. That is the size when most species of sharks can do some harm if they really wanted to."

Mr Duffy said it was not unusual to see sharks close to shore during summer.

Some of the "harmless" species normally around at this time of the year included school sharks, rig sharks or baby bronze whalers.

"The bronze whalers do pup in the Bay and could be expected to drop their pups in shallow water around about now. Pups are about 70cm to 80cm long when they are born.

"If you see a shark and you're a bit worried about it, the best thing to do is to get out of the water as quickly and calmly as possible without too much fuss."