Shark Dive New Zealand

21/07/2023

12/07/2023

Shark Week 2023 is almost here

26/04/2020

In the last few years, a small group of dedicated conservationists have sounded the alarm repeatedly that South Africa’s shark population – including the iconic Hammerhead and Great White – is collapsing.
The reason is this - a fishery by the name of Demersal Shark Longlining (DSL) that has been working along the coastline has been overfishing smoothhound and soupfin shark on a devastatingly intense basis. Each DSL fishing vessel regularly catches up to 1000 sharks per trip.
The DSL primarily targets Smoothhound and Soupfin sharks and by way of bycatch, also catches and kills CITES-protected shark species such as Smooth Hammerhead sharks and Great White sharks.
Tragically, this shark meat is being exported to Australia where it is sold in Fish ‘n’ Chips under the name of Flake. To make matters worse, this shark meat is often not fit for human consumption, and contains 14 times the recommended levels of heavy metal content.
Although permits are required for this fishery, it is not sustainably managed by The Department of Environment, Forestry & Fisheries (DEFF).
DEFF imposes no catch limits, no size limits and requires no observers on board. Despite best efforts to engage with the DEFF, our pleas have landed on deaf (pun intended!) ears. DEFF’s own scientists have also systematically warned their management of this collapse and have recommended various restrictions be put in place to better manage the fishery since 2011. And yet they take no action.
The science is very clear. At these current rates, not only does SA stand to lose its most iconic shark species, but this in turn is having a devastating impact on the tourism industry, on our economy and our ecosystem health. Removing apex predators is never a good thing.
As an Individual YOU can make a difference and as a collective, WE can make change!

Gummy and Smoothhound Shark are being exported to Australia for Fish and Chips, being sold as Flake, destroying South Africa's endangered shark species.

13/10/2019

Many of you will have heard the news that shark cage diving is now no longer an offence in NZ. This comes as a bittersweet 'victory' for Shark Dive NZ after closing up at the start of last season. After reading comments on social from folks who have never been shark cage diving, it still staggers us that people believe the mis-truths spread about our industry based on nothing but hearsay and rhetoric. These myths include that we feed the sharks, that sharks associate the sound of our boat motor with food and that the sharks turn up to the dive spot on cue because they've been trained to do this. What these ill-informed people don't realise is that different sharks turn up every day, we dived at different spots every day, and one head of tuna on a rope does NOT constitute 'feeding'! The Shark Whisperer is continuing to work on future opportunities in this industry.

The decision follows a ruling by the Court of Appeal last year.

26/11/2018

Be sure to catch us in Air Jaws: Back from the Dead here in NZ on Sky Tv, along with old re-runs from previous years too.

Turn fear into fascination this Shark Week with Discovery Channel Australia & NZ 🌊🦈 From Thursday 29 November at 7.30pm.

30/09/2018

Most of you will be aware that the Court found shark cage diving illegal on 4 September and since then we have been going through our options to see if we could fight this through the Supreme Court.
We have decided we can’t continue to fight. With the threat of prosecution for us, our skipper, our crew and passengers, hefty fines and vessel forfeiture, it just isn't worth risking continuing in the face of the illegal ruling.
The costs associated with taking it further, with an undetermined outcome, just isn’t worth the protracted battle that the Pāua divers have propelled us into.
It’s staggering to us that an argument based on illogical reasoning and fear has led to an entire industry being shut down WHEN THERE HAS BEEN NO SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE of the accusations and in fact worldwide evidence substantiates our stance.
Shark cage diving is essential for shark conservation and ensuring education about the Great White shark population at Stewart Island has been Shark Dive NZ’s number one priority. Sadly the fear and hatred that the Haters have towards sharks that inhabit their waters, will continue to be treated as truth by those that are unwilling to learn otherwise.
Secondary to that is as a result of the court decision, unemployment for the Bluff locals that were our very valuable crew, reduced nights for the region’s accommodation providers and less visitors to the town’s hospitality establishments, in a town that could do with the economic benefit these visitors provide.
Thank you all for your patience while we worked through the various options, it has been an incredibly hard call to make but it isn’t sustainable for us to keep fighting this.
The Stewart Islanders should be very proud of themselves, at least they won’t blame the shark cage divers when, in the future, a shark bites someone in the water. A dark time for shark conservation in NZ.

08/09/2018

Many of you will have heard the news this week that the Court of Appeal found shark cage diving is now illegal in New Zealand. This has come as a complete surprise to us and many others, as it was not what the pāua divers had brought to the argument.
Regardless, there are so many mis-truths out there that are being treated as facts by the shark dive Haters, so we’d like to clear these up for those that know there are at least two sides to a story:
1. Shark cage dive operations in NZ DO NOT FEED SHARKS. Pure and simple, the shark dive site is in the middle of a seal colony, and the sharks are surrounded by their own food source.
2. Shark cage diving does not occur “day in, day out” as what is being reported. Anyone who spends time on Foveaux Strait, one of the roughest stretches of water in the world, knows that the weather precludes a seven day schedule. Shark Diving season runs from December through to June, which follows when the sharks are resident at the dive site. Over that time we may only have ten days over the course of a month that we’re able to dive.
3. Considering the infrequency of dive trips, the absence of feed for the sharks from the dive boats, and new sharks not identified before seen on a weekly basis, we can confirm that there is no conditioning of sharks at the dive site. There is not the repeated stimuli present for this to occur. The research conducted worldwide supports that there is no conditioning of Great White sharks at shark cage diving sites.
4. We have heard from Stewart Island that it takes seven minutes for a GWS to go from our dive site to where their grandchildren swim. According to multiple published migration studies, the reported sustained swimming speeds of Great Whites are between 2.5 and 5.4 km/h so it would be impossible for a shark to swim that distance in that time.
5. Also according to Stewart Island residents, it takes five years to untrain a shark and the sharks turn up 30 minutes before a boat arrives.🤔
6. When our operation was based in Stewart Island, the Islanders believed the sharks followed our boat into Half Moon Bay, creating a hazard for small children standing on the wharf. By the Islanders’ logic, the sharks should have followed us to Bluff when we relocated to there. This has never been witnessed. If anyone is being followed, the fisherpeople cleaning their catch in the harbour at Half Moon Bay are the likely culprits. There is evidence of GWS’s following fishers into the Bay since the early 1900s.
7. There are more sharks in the water now than ever before, due to them becoming protected in 2007.

The Islanders and pāua divers have worked hard at closing down the shark cage diving industry. They have had to say a lot of untrue things based on no evidence to get people to believe them. There have been no official reports made regarding sharks interacting with pāua divers or others. Sharks swimming around boats happens all around the world, not just Stewart Island!

Because of the fear that people hold towards sharks, the fabricated anecdotal reports by the Haters are believed by people who don’t know any different (everyone's seen Jaws, right?!)
Shark Dive NZ has spent a decade trying to educate people on this population of sharks so that the fear is replaced with knowledge.

30/08/2018

Little bit lucky for this wee boy to join our Shark Dive NZ crew! Congratulations to crew member Tammi and partner Tane on the birth of baby Reuben ❤️