Shark sighting gets rumour mills churning

Great white or great story?

Maybe it's both.

But whatever is in the water off Taranaki, it has the rumour mill churning.

Taranaki man Roland Lina and his 10-year-old daughter, Bernadette, are adamant they saw a great white shark leaping out of the water on Saturday afternoon - sparking the first evacuation of Oakura Beach since 1966. But others are not so sure.

Over the past month there have been about a dozen shark sightings along the 50km coastline, northeast and southwest of New Plymouth.

Some fishermen think the sightings are based on hysteria.

"Most of it's a bloody myth," said Dave Chadstone, operator of Chaddy's Charters and a mariner of 38 years' experience.

"People are putting a stigma on sharks like they're the enemy. They live on seals and they eat a few stingrays."

His commercial fishing friends were bemused by some of the recent reports, he said.

Mr Chadstone operates a scenic tour boat that takes up to five daily trips out to a seal colony round New Plymouth's Sugar Loaf Islands.

He admits to getting the hearts of his tourists pumping by placing a wooden dorsal fin in the water near the islands, but says that's about the extent of evidence of any 'jaws' in the water.

"I was diving out there on Friday night for 90 minutes hoping to get an encounter with one. My grandkids were diving in there. There was no fear."

The sighting of a 6m great white at Oakura on Saturday was founded on fear and excitement but little fact, he said. "There's a lot of scaremongering going on."

It was more likely the big fish leaping from the water was a dolphin or sunfish, he said.

Mr Lina rejected Mr Chadstone's theory and said "I appreciate the depth of knowledge and experience Dave and these fishermen have at sea - that's all good - but I tell you I've just spent 15 days on my own boat in the Bay of Islands, where we played with dolphins nearly every day.

"In March I spent two hours playing with a pod of orcas.

"That thing jumping out at my jetski on Saturday was neither of those fish. That was a shark, I'm absolutely certain. It had a white belly as it twisted back."

He did not get a look at the jaws.

"I was too bloody close - it was right in my face."

Mr Lina estimated he and his daughter were less than 6m from the shark.

More than 10 people on Oakura Beach also saw the fish leaping from the water, said Oakura New Plymouth Old Boys' Surf Club captain Bruce MacDonald.

The beach was closed for two hours on Saturday following the report of Mr Lina and others, but that was a standard safety response, Mr MacDonald said.

An inflatable rescue boat patrolled the area during that time but nothing was spotted.

Mr MacDonald said he was inclined to go along with whatever Mr Chadstone was saying.

"I think it's media hysteria."

If a great white was in the area it would have been around for a long time, as the nearby seal colonies were a "chocolate factory" for such a predator. "It could have been a marlin," said Mr MacDonald.

However, about 24 hours later the club received an unconfirmed sighting of a shark on Sunday night near the Taranaki port about 15km north of Oakura.