Summer sharks: Bronze whaler spotted only 20m from people on Pāpāmoa Beach in Tauranga

A shark has been sighted off Pāpāmoa Beach this afternoon, seemingly stalking people fishing and enjoying the warm weather just 20m away.

A Herald reader shared aerial photos of a shark swimming close to Pāpāmoa Beach near Tauranga.

They said sightings are a regular occurrence and “it is always 100 per cent guaranteed that there will be multiple sharks right on the beach like this”.

“They are bronze whalers so relatively harmless for adults, however they get pretty close to small children sometimes which is a bit of a worry.”

One Herald reader said sharks are present almost every day at Tauranga's Pāpāmoa Beach. Photo / Scott Guttery

Today’s sighting was another in a spate of encounters near New Zealand beaches so far this summer.

Surf Lifesaving eastern manager Chaz Gibbons-Campbell said in the last two weeks we’ve had 42 sightings across Coromandel and Bay of Plenty.

“That’s from lifeguards seeing sharks swimming by, and most of them are on the small size range, so sort of under a metre and a half.”

Gibbons-Campbell said bronze whaler sharks pose no danger to swimmers.

“We see them all the time ... it’s pretty standard.”

There were “lots of bronze whalers out there” at the moment, he said.

“Because they’re in pup season, they come into shore to get some of the oxygenated water with all the swell and that’s why you see them sitting in shallows - they’re actually just resting. They’re not actually interested in us at all.”

A shark was spotted in the shallows at Mount Maunganui beach early yesterday afternoon by broadcaster Brodie Kane.

In a mock TV news-style “live cross” to her 58,000 followers on Instagram, Kane said the sighting had “made some people run out of the water like their lives depended on it”.

“And really, really causing a drama down here on this absolute scorcher of a day.”

A Herald reader said Pāpāmoa Beach is "infested" with bronze whaler sharks at this time of year. Photo / Scott Guttery

Last month, a Southland woman was attacked by a shark while wading through a South Island estuary.

The 21-year-old suffered a significant leg wound in a late-night attack while wading in knee-deep water at about 2am.

Southland Police said the woman was walking through the water near the Riverton rugby grounds when she was bitten.

“The culprit is possibly a seven gill shark, which is present in the estuary. The time of day is a possible factor,” police said.

A bronze whaler shark was spotted swimming near Tauranga's Pāpāmoa Beach. Photo / Scott Guttery

Standard procedure for shark sightings was for lifeguards to assess the risk - how big the shark was, the species and where it was going - and to let people know, Gibbons-Campbell said.

“The best thing is just to give them a bit of space - respect their presence and hop out of the water for a little bit and most of the time you’re good to go back in.”

Swimmers should also not swim where people are fishing, and fishers shouldn’t dump their fish carcasses in the shallows “because that obviously draws in the sharks”, he said.