A Northland wildlife photographer has captured striking drone footage of more than 30 bronze whaler sharks swimming along the Mangawhai bar.
Andy Bruce of Elevated Media said he had been aware of a few sharks in his local waterway since before Christmas.
“There was a massive bait ball of kahawai just outside the estuary, and they seemed to be keeping tabs on the sharks,” Bruce told 1News.
On Tuesday morning, Bruce took his drone out near the Mangawhai sandbar close to the boating channel, where he filmed what he initially estimated to be about 20 sharks.
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“At first, I thought it was 20 of them, then 25. Then I went a bit higher and I could see around 33 of them at the end,” he said.
The footage captured the sharks swimming in shallow waters alongside the large school of kahawai, which Bruce said likely attracted them into the area.
Bronze whalers are known to come close to estuaries and beaches at this time of year to breed, with Bruce saying there was a noticeable difference in size among the sharks in the group.
“There was a range of big ones and little ones,” he said. “It was pretty amazing.”
Bronze whalers can grow up to 3m in length, typically averaging between 1.5m and 2.5m.
Bruce, who has lived in Mangawhai for five years, said sharks appeared “all the time” in the waters, with one local ocean swimming group fondly nicknaming a resident shark Felicity.
He said despite regularly photographing marine life in the area, including orca and dolphins, he had never seen bronze whalers in such large numbers.
“There’s always the extremes of the reaction to sharks – people being scared and then people seeing the beauty of it,” Bruce said.
He said he hoped the images would help people see the animals differently.
“Sharks have got a bad name. I’d be happy to jump in with them to make people realise they’re not that bad,” he said.
“It’s wonderful we get to have these amazing experiences with nature so close to shore.”