Two great white sharks have been tagged in Tauranga Harbour and many more spotted as research into the endangered species continues.
Marine Biologist Riley Elliot has been given a permit to tag and track 20 sharks for research purposes, and soon the public will be able to see where they are and what they’re doing this summer through an app.
In an Instagram update Riley Elliot says it’s been an “eye-opening” experience following his first week looking for great white sharks.
“This is an incredible place I'm so grateful to be here, and yeah excited to learn more about these animals in this area.”
Elliot says the harbour is a “great nursery ground for big fish” and is an “amazingly healthy ecosystem”.
The vision shows huge schools of kahawai, mullet as well as “spawning kingfish” and snapper “everywhere”.
“I’ve seen 10 juvenile great white sharks, all different individuals. “I’ve been able to tag two successfully – they’ve been quite shy,” he says.
The sharks have ranged in size from 1.2m – 2.5m which he says shows there are “mums coming in here to pup which is incredibly novel in the world”.
He says the sharks will feed on stingrays, kingfish and other small prey, before migrating south.
Riley Elliott said larger mako usually only travel south on the East Auckland Current in February. (Source: 1News)
But he says he doesn’t want the presence of sharks in the harbour to make people fearful.
“Clearly these sharks are doing their own thing.”
He says last summer there were no reported incidents of attacks, but there were interactions between fishermen and sharks, and he hopes the research will reduce that impact to protect the endangered species.
“I want to be in the water enjoying summer, surfing, diving swimming.”
“It’s just about understanding where these animals are and then making decisions on where we recreate”, he says.
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