Mangawhai sharks: Drone video shows 33 bronze whalers in shallow bar

A Mangawhai photographer has captured stunning aerial footage of 33 sharks cruising around his local waterway.

Andy Bruce shot the footage of the bronze whalers on Tuesday after a friend told him there were some swimming around before Christmas.

When he went then, only around four were swimming, but when the kids went back to school, he had the urge to go back, Bruce told Ryan Bridge TODAY.

The drone video he captured showed the sharks swimming in the shallow water of the Mangawhai bar, as well as a large school of kahawai, which Bruce believed may have attracted the large number of ocean predators.

According to Niwa, the copper-coloured sharks live in shallow coastal waters during summer and can be found further offshore in the winter months.

The ocean predators ranged in size, with some smaller ones and “some big mamas”, he said.

Bronze whalers can reach 3m in length and average around 1.5m-2.5m.

Bruce said he would be keen to get in the water and film the sharks in the future to show their docile nature and that they are not a threat.

“We have a group of ocean swimmers, and they go in like four times a week.

“They’ve named the resident one [shark] Felicity, and they see it most times. But yeah, it’s all just part of nature, which we are too.”

The spectacular school of fish, which Bruce also caught on film, was swimming in a circular motion to protect themselves from the sharks, he said.

“I tell a few friends that I call it the fingerprint of life, it’s pretty special.”