Protected shark dies in net
A large great white shark has died after getting tangled in a net off the coast of New Plymouth – but it is not the infamous Taranaki Terror, experts say.
The 2.8 metre-long juvenile male great white, which is believed to weigh about 260 kilograms, was hauled in by Rob Ansley, of Ocean Pearl Fisheries, while fishing about 12 kilometres off the port in about 85m of water on Saturday.
The apex predator, which has been protected in New Zealand waters since 2007, will be dissected today by shark scientist and Department of Conservation technical adviser Clinton Duffy after being blessed by tangata whenua.
The Taranaki Terror, also known as Mrs White, which first made headlines in 2006 when it was spotted prowling the Tasman
Sea, is estimated to be a whopping 6 metres long – twice the size of the one Ansley accidentally caught.
Ansley had been targeting blue warehou using set nets and was disappointed to see the dead shark as bycatch.
‘‘I’m not happy about it. I would rather see it swimming about in the ocean.
‘‘It’s like a big burley trail, our net, so it just went in there to eat and obviously got tangled up.’’
Ansley had a government observer aboard who photographed the shark. The appropriate authorities were immediately notified to establish what to do with the carcass.
‘‘The answer was they wanted it for science.
‘‘It’s not the first one I’ve donated to science, and they really appreciate it.
‘‘It’s unfortunate that it happened, but you are better off bringing it in and letting science do its thing.’’
DOC senior ranger Callum Lilley confirmed the shark was already dead when it was discovered.
Lilley said Ansley would not face any legal action.
‘‘While the capture of a protected species is unfortunate, the fisher has done all the right things, including immediately notifying the Ministry for Primary Industries.’’
He said there was uncertainty around estimating the age of great white sharks but believed it would be at least 5 years old and possibly more than 10.
‘‘Hence the need to collect data and samples from bycaught sharks.’’
Lilley said it was the 15th white shark taken as bycatch in New Zealand waters in the last 12 months. The other 14 were caught by recreational fishers and only three were reported to DOC and released alive.
Both Lilley and Ansley were adamant the shark was not the Taranaki Terror.
‘‘I saw that one a few years ago. It’s one of the biggest sharks that I’ve ever seen,’’ Ansley said.
In 2019 a Taranaki fisherman was wonderstruck when a threemetre great white shark appeared from the deep and tore his burley bag to shreds at the White Cliffs, near Urenui.
There are great white sharks cruising the waters off Taranaki year round.
There is an estimated population of 750 adults with a total of 12,000 in the Tasman Sea.
Lilley said the shark’s jaw and teeth would be made available to mana whenua for cultural purposes.