Claims fishermen who caught great white shark at Orewa Beach were ‘aggressive to people’ trying to save it

The fishermen who pulled in a great white shark at a beach north of Auckland were allegedly “quite aggressive to people who were trying to save it”, as police and DOC launch an investigation into the animal’s death.

The juvenile great white shark, which was about 2m long, was caught in a longline at Orewa Beach, according to witnesses.

Police arrived at Orewa Beach around 4:30pm and helping lifeguards keep the large crowd that had gathered away from the great white – which has been a protected species since 2007.

Erika Perkinson was swimming with her family before joining the crowd that gathered around the shark.

“By the time I got there the shark was dead, there was a lot people, kids had been kicking it and throwing things at it which were really distressing,” she told 1 NEWS.

“We could also hear over the lifeguard radio when I was talking to her about what was happening.”

“Apparently, the people who lured it were getting quite aggressive to people who were trying to save it.

“They wanted to take it home and eat it, apparently, the lifeguards said no, DOC is on its way, you can’t take this, it’s a protected species.”

DRAGGED BACK TO WATER

Casey Gibbes’ husband was one of the people who had helped lifeguards drag the sharks back into the water.

“As a last-ditch effort, (we thought) let’s just try and get it in there,” Mrs Gibbes said.

“He (my husband) just grabbed it by the tail and pulled it (into the water) and I know people are saying you’re not supposed to do that, it drowns it.”

“But it did expel some of the sand once he got out there because he sort of turned it but we’ll never know.”

“The guys who had got it in the net went and pulled it back onto the shore.”

People who tried to help the shark were made to feel uncomfortable by the fishermen, who were “intimidating,” according to Mrs Gibbes

“People wanted to do something (to help the shark) but they felt a bit too uncomfortable because they were standing around it like it was theirs.”

One of the lifeguards told Ms Perkinson that they had earlier stopped the fisherman from using longlines near swimmers.

“Basically, she’d caught them long-lining and told them to pull the line in and said it was dangerous, people are swimming here, it’s a bad idea,” she said.

“(She) got them to pull the line in and leave but apparently they’d come back and actually caught the shark and pulled it in.”

Ms Perkinson was furious with the senseless killing of the shark and the fisherman long-lining so close people.

“I was really angry, first of all it was pointless and second of all they were putting so many people in danger, it’s just ludicrous,” she said.

“I hope the book gets thrown at them, it’s completely reckless putting so many people in danger.”

DEATH INVESTIGATED

Police confirmed yesterday that they were working closely with Department of Conservation to investigate the circumstances of the shark’s death.

DOC said the shark had been put in a freezer unit in Auckland.

“The local iwi had also been consulted about what would happen with the dead shark,” DOC said in a statement.

“It will be examined by Massey University pathologists to learn more about the shark for scientific purposes and also in relation to the circumstances of its death.”