Nosy great white circles fishing boat
A Hamilton family came face-toface with a great white shark during a father and daughter fishing trip.
Terri Franklin and her father, Vaughan, were fishing off Bowentown, Waihı¯ Beach between Anzac Bay and Matakana Island around 5pm on Thursday when a 2.5 metre great white surfaced and circled the boat for a ‘‘good 20 minutes’’.
‘‘This juvenile great white came up . . . happy, not aggressive and really interested,’’ Terri told Sunday News.
‘‘It was exciting . . . I’ve never seen a shark this close to the boat before.’’
They named it ‘‘Boris’’.
The Franklins live in Hamilton, and have been holidaying at Waihı¯ Beach for the last 20 years. Terri, now 29 years old, has been visiting since she was 11.
They’re all pretty confident on or in the water.
Vaughan, 58, is principal at Te Rapa Primary School; he’s been scuba-diving since the age of 12 and has dived all across New Zealand. He had never previously come across a great white, but that’s changed recently.
To avoid contact with sharks when fishing Vaughan no longer bleeds fish out the back of the boat until he is ready to head back ashore. Instead, he puts them straight in a bucket.
‘‘We don’t want to encourage them,’’ Terri said. ‘‘We are in their territory, it’s their home, we’re putting ourselves at risk.’’
After catching their daily quota on Thursday, the pair decided to head back in. The fish were cleaned out into the water and five minutes later, ‘‘Boris’’ showed up.
‘‘For someone who has always been a keen water baby, jumping off the boat . . . free diving and scuba diving with my father and brother, I’ve never seen so many sharks that close before,’’ Terri said.
Earlier this week, Josh Lonergan, of Waihı¯, filmed a fourmetre great white chasing the fish he was reeling in.
Normally, Terri would swim back into shore from Anzac Bay, but there’s ‘‘no way’’ she would do it now.
Marine scientist Dr Riley Elliot fears delays in researching an increase in shark sightings could lead to another fatal attack.
Elliot has identified 11 different juvenile great white sharks in the area, after looking at videos and photos on social media.