There has been a shark sighting in a fourth location this summer after four divers saw a great white shark off the Kapiti Coast on Saturday.

The four-metre shark appeared as builder Gary Porter prepared to dive near Kapiti Island, the Dominion Post reported.

Mr Porter and three friends watched and took photos as the shark circled their boat for more than an hour, passing close enough for them to touch its fin.

"They're so fast. It's amazing for that size how quickly it can move through the water. You wouldn't stand a chance really," Mr Porter said.

Earlier , North Taranaki Waitara fishermen Andrew Sharman, Wilson Montgomery and David Collingwood said they saw a massive shark about 9am on Friday, about 3km off Motunui.

The shark was at least 5m long and its grey dorsal fin was sticking more than half a metre out of the water, the men told the Taranaki Daily News.

In the Bay of Plenty a 2.5 bronze whaler was caught in a fishing net off Papamoa beach last Saturday.

Another two sharks were spotted swimming about 100m south of the club's flags on New Year's day, Omanu Surf Rescue head lifeguard Isaac Gilmore told the Bay of Plenty Times.

In Northland a 2.5m mako shark has been seen daily for the past week at Ocean Beach, 36km south-east of Whangarei, swimming under a surfer on one occasion.

Marine conservationist Wade Doak said the mako would not put him off from going into the water.

Sharks usually only bit a person by mistake and people should learn to live with them, he told the Northern Advocate.

Department of Conservation scientist Clinton Duffy said it was common for more sharks to be sighted in the summer months with more people at the beach and on boats and the sharks coming closer into shore to breed and feed.

Mr Duffy said any shark over 1.8m should be treated as potentially dangerous, but they were normally not aggressive.

He said most sharks fed at dawn and dusk and would not hunt during the day unless they picked up the smell of dead fish or blood in the water.

"During the day sharks are normally chilled out," Mr Duffy said.

He said New Zealand typically had a very low rate of shark attacks with usually two a year.

"Generally the serious attacks are not on the beach but happen to divers in seal colonies. The sort of incidents that happen off swimming beaches is when someone gets their hand or foot grabbed and it usually results in a minor abrasion. Nonetheless, it is frightening for the people involved," Mr Duffy said.

There have been about 45 unprovoked shark attacks recorded in New Zealand since 1852 - nine fatal.

- NZPA