“I told them how sharks don’t travel in packs and you just have to be aware when you’re in the water and hop out if you see something.”
She estimated the shark’s length by comparing the length of her boys’ surfboard to the length between the sharks fin and the tail.
Trask took a video of the shark on her phone where the boys can be heard yelling excitedly between each other.
“It’s going to beach itself!” one said.
“I’m going in the water!” said another.
“Mum, I’ve never been so close a shark!”
Later in the day, about 5.30pm, another local spotted the shark and followed it with his friend for about 2km.
Martin Stewart said he followed it back towards Omanu where he saw other young children boogie boarding in the surf.
“They were told to get out of the water by their parents and both the parents and the kids seemed a bit freaked out,” Stewart said.
He also agreed the shark was about 2m long.
Shark scientist Dr Riley Elliott said even as it was getting colder, it was not uncommon to see the sharks so close to the shoreline.
“The weather right now is balmier than it otherwise would be so we’re still seeing a lot of sea life activity,” Elliott said.
He said the shark had a 99 per cent chance of being a bronze whaler as most were in the Mount Maunganui and Papamoa areas.
“They are pretty much harmless to people unless you overlap with fishing and disposing of fish.”
Harriet Laughton is a multi-media journalist based in the Bay of Plenty.
