After copious amounts of rain across the country, Kiwis are finally going to the beach this summer, but they aren't swimming alone with a handful of great white sharks being spotted in the water.
Shark expert Dr Riley Elliott has been in the Coromandel since the start of December, tagging great white sharks to track their movements in the water.
Elliott told Newshub he has managed to put tags on two sharks which were spotted in Bowentown, Waihi and put the information of their movements onto a great white app and the Sustainable Ocean Society website.
He said he has spotted eight sharks while in the area and: "A handful of people have alerted me of shark sightings across NZ."
Daisy the great white was the first shark to be tagged in the area and was tagged on December 3 in Bowentown.
Elliott told Newshub he has been sent around five videos from people who have spotted sharks from the Hauraki Gulf right down to the South Island.
He said the "crappy weather," has meant far fewer people have been out in the water going out to spot them.
"It's because no one is out there."
The tagging of the sharks is not cheap either with each tag costing $3200, Elliott is grateful people have donated to the research around tagging the sharks.
He said it is hard to track the sharks as they have to go up to the surface and out of the water.
"The tag has to come out of the water to be tracked."
Elliott told Newshub people have contributed enough money for him to use 20 tags to track great whites across New Zealand.
"It's a massive feat to have the NZ public sponsor the tags as that's $80,000 worth of technology."
He also told Newshub he has been pleased many New Zealanders are not associating great white sharks with the Jaws movie and are putting their faith in science.
"More people are starting to understand in order to co-exist it is best to understand where the apex predator is."
Elliott told Newshub although people are starting to understand how to live amongst the apex predator, some people still do not like the idea of spotting a shark.
"Some people may not want to see where the sharks are he said. "Ignorance is bliss."
Elliott added ignorance could be the thing which gets people to encounter a great white and that it is actually important to know of their whereabouts, to avoid any unwanted encounters.
"It's likely not a good idea to put out fishing gear where baby sharks are learning to survive," he said.
Elliott said only 30 percent of the world's large shark population is left in the world.
Tracking the great whites will give people a better scientific understanding of where sharks are distributed.
He told Newshub, the number of sharks isn't increasing.
"It's demoralising because there is not an uptick in sharks he said. "The distribution of them has changed."
Elliott has 18 more tags to use on great whites and track their movements.
People can see the movements of the great whites he has tracked via the Great White App and the Sustainable Ocean Website.
