Scientists Investigate Increase In Great White Shark Sightings At Popular New Zealand Vacation Spot New Zealand

The population in the Bay of Plenty region, on the east coast of the North Island, increases in the summer as holidaymakers flock to the area’s beautiful beaches. But visitors are increasingly fearful of what appear to be more frequent visits by great white sharks during the summer. The country’s most recent fatal white shark attack occurred in the north of the region in January 2021. Since then, there have been numerous sightings and a lucky escape when surfers at Mount Maunganui Beach narrowly avoided a “3.5m monster”. Now a project involving scientists, shark experts, conservation experts and local iwi (tribe) will try to understand the change in the species’ increasing presence and activity in the area. University of Waikato marine biologist Phil Ross, who is leading the project, said the team hoped to find out if there actually were more sharks or if an increase in people in the water had led to more sightings. The team was also looking at the role the oceans might play in warming and whether the animal’s habits or migration patterns would change. “It’s almost like a who’s who at the zoo: Do ​​we end up with a local population that lives here permanently, or do they stay for a season and then go somewhere else, or do we see a constant turnover of different sharks coming through the area?” Ross said. The team is still finalizing the details of the project, which will begin in the summer, but there are a number of methods that can be used to track the sharks, including installing a GoPro camera on the sea floor near a pot of bait – a common tool for conducting fish surveys, Ross said. “We’ve been using it here for years and we’ve started picking up these great white sharks that come in to have a nose.” Ross said two of the hapu (sub-tribes) in the area were working with the scientists to create a timeline of the sharks’ habits. “They have a lot of knowledge about the port … we don’t have data that goes back a decade or two, but oral history could potentially tell us how things have changed over a much longer period of time.” Local fishermen, boaters, surfers and swimmers can also become helpful citizen scientists and will be able to upload sightings, photos and videos to a specially designed portal for the project. Part of the project’s goals is to help the community better appreciate and understand sharks while keeping them safe in the water. “Your toaster is more dangerous and more likely to hurt you than a shark,” Ross said. “It’s always been there and it’s not something you have to be afraid of all the time. “But if you can see there’s an area where fish or birds are feeding, that’s not the place to go for a swim.”

title: “Scientists Investigate Increase In Great White Shark Sightings At Popular New Zealand Vacation Spot New Zealand Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-30” author: “Michael Rangel”

The population in the Bay of Plenty region, on the east coast of the North Island, increases in the summer as holidaymakers flock to the area’s beautiful beaches. But visitors are increasingly fearful of what appear to be more frequent visits by great white sharks during the summer. The country’s most recent fatal white shark attack occurred in the north of the region in January 2021. Since then, there have been numerous sightings and a lucky escape when surfers at Mount Maunganui Beach narrowly avoided a “3.5m monster”. Now a project involving scientists, shark experts, conservation experts and local iwi (tribe) will try to understand the change in the species’ increasing presence and activity in the area. University of Waikato marine biologist Phil Ross, who is leading the project, said the team hoped to find out if there actually were more sharks or if an increase in people in the water had led to more sightings. The team was also looking at the role the oceans might play in warming and whether the animal’s habits or migration patterns would change. “It’s almost like a who’s who at the zoo: Do ​​we end up with a local population that lives here permanently, or do they stay for a season and then go somewhere else, or do we see a constant turnover of different sharks coming through the area?” Ross said. The team is still finalizing the details of the project, which will begin in the summer, but there are a number of methods that can be used to track the sharks, including installing a GoPro camera on the sea floor near a pot of bait – a common tool for conducting fish surveys, Ross said. “We’ve been using it here for years and we’ve started picking up these great white sharks that come in to have a nose.” Ross said two of the hapu (sub-tribes) in the area were working with the scientists to create a timeline of the sharks’ habits. “They have a lot of knowledge about the port … we don’t have data that goes back a decade or two, but oral history could potentially tell us how things have changed over a much longer period of time.” Local fishermen, boaters, surfers and swimmers can also become helpful citizen scientists and will be able to upload sightings, photos and videos to a specially designed portal for the project. Part of the project’s goals is to help the community better appreciate and understand sharks while keeping them safe in the water. “Your toaster is more dangerous and more likely to hurt you than a shark,” Ross said. “It’s always been there and it’s not something you have to be afraid of all the time. “But if you can see there’s an area where fish or birds are feeding, that’s not the place to go for a swim.”

title: “Scientists Investigate Increase In Great White Shark Sightings At Popular New Zealand Vacation Spot New Zealand Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-01” author: “Mandy Parker”

The population in the Bay of Plenty region, on the east coast of the North Island, increases in the summer as holidaymakers flock to the area’s beautiful beaches. But visitors are increasingly fearful of what appear to be more frequent visits by great white sharks during the summer. The country’s most recent fatal white shark attack occurred in the north of the region in January 2021. Since then, there have been numerous sightings and a lucky escape when surfers at Mount Maunganui Beach narrowly avoided a “3.5m monster”. Now a project involving scientists, shark experts, conservation experts and local iwi (tribe) will try to understand the change in the species’ increasing presence and activity in the area. University of Waikato marine biologist Phil Ross, who is leading the project, said the team hoped to find out if there actually were more sharks or if an increase in people in the water had led to more sightings. The team was also looking at the role the oceans might play in warming and whether the animal’s habits or migration patterns would change. “It’s almost like a who’s who at the zoo: Do ​​we end up with a local population that lives here permanently, or do they stay for a season and then go somewhere else, or do we see a constant turnover of different sharks coming through the area?” Ross said. The team is still finalizing the details of the project, which will begin in the summer, but there are a number of methods that can be used to track the sharks, including installing a GoPro camera on the sea floor near a pot of bait – a common tool for conducting fish surveys, Ross said. “We’ve been using it here for years and we’ve started picking up these great white sharks that come in to have a nose.” Ross said two of the hapu (sub-tribes) in the area were working with the scientists to create a timeline of the sharks’ habits. “They have a lot of knowledge about the port … we don’t have data that goes back a decade or two, but oral history could potentially tell us how things have changed over a much longer period of time.” Local fishermen, boaters, surfers and swimmers can also become helpful citizen scientists and will be able to upload sightings, photos and videos to a specially designed portal for the project. Part of the project’s goals is to help the community better appreciate and understand sharks while keeping them safe in the water. “Your toaster is more dangerous and more likely to hurt you than a shark,” Ross said. “It’s always been there and it’s not something you have to be afraid of all the time. “But if you can see there’s an area where fish or birds are feeding, that’s not the place to go for a swim.”

title: “Scientists Investigate Increase In Great White Shark Sightings At Popular New Zealand Vacation Spot New Zealand Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-07” author: “Clara Napier”

The population in the Bay of Plenty region, on the east coast of the North Island, increases in the summer as holidaymakers flock to the area’s beautiful beaches. But visitors are increasingly fearful of what appear to be more frequent visits by great white sharks during the summer. The country’s most recent fatal white shark attack occurred in the north of the region in January 2021. Since then, there have been numerous sightings and a lucky escape when surfers at Mount Maunganui Beach narrowly avoided a “3.5m monster”. Now a project involving scientists, shark experts, conservation experts and local iwi (tribe) will try to understand the change in the species’ increasing presence and activity in the area. University of Waikato marine biologist Phil Ross, who is leading the project, said the team hoped to find out if there actually were more sharks or if an increase in people in the water had led to more sightings. The team was also looking at the role the oceans might play in warming and whether the animal’s habits or migration patterns would change. “It’s almost like a who’s who at the zoo: Do ​​we end up with a local population that lives here permanently, or do they stay for a season and then go somewhere else, or do we see a constant turnover of different sharks coming through the area?” Ross said. The team is still finalizing the details of the project, which will begin in the summer, but there are a number of methods that can be used to track the sharks, including installing a GoPro camera on the sea floor near a pot of bait – a common tool for conducting fish surveys, Ross said. “We’ve been using it here for years and we’ve started picking up these great white sharks that come in to have a nose.” Ross said two of the hapu (sub-tribes) in the area were working with the scientists to create a timeline of the sharks’ habits. “They have a lot of knowledge about the port … we don’t have data that goes back a decade or two, but oral history could potentially tell us how things have changed over a much longer period of time.” Local fishermen, boaters, surfers and swimmers can also become helpful citizen scientists and will be able to upload sightings, photos and videos to a specially designed portal for the project. Part of the project’s goals is to help the community better appreciate and understand sharks while keeping them safe in the water. “Your toaster is more dangerous and more likely to hurt you than a shark,” Ross said. “It’s always been there and it’s not something you have to be afraid of all the time. “But if you can see there’s an area where fish or birds are feeding, that’s not the place to go for a swim.”