By Annabelle Jackman
Shark researchers are excited by the discovery of a great white, well outside its known territory.
Department of Conservation shark expert, Clinton Duffy has been tagging great whites with his team for the last five years – successfully attaching a satellite tracking tag to a shark for the first time.
“The spot tags allow us to be much more precise about where the shark is and the speed it’s travelling at,” says Mr Duffy.
The shark has been tracked since leaving Stewart Island last month and researchers say its journey has produced some surprising results.
So far the shark, affectionately named Grim, has headed further East than any other shark Mr Duffy has followed.
“For a while there, we thought Grim was going to ruin our nice little pattern,” he says.
“But he has turned North and is heading away from the Chathams now.”
Grim’s journey began at Stewart Island, travelling 1200kms north-east toward the Chatham Islands.
Mr Duffy expects Grim to resurface next in the waters around Tonga or the Great Barrier reef, before returning to Stewart Island early next year.
But Mr Duffy doesn’t expect to be able to follow Grim’s entire journey.
“It’ll be a matter of pure luck if we’re in the same place as Grim again in the future to be able to take the tag off,” he says.
“I suspect the tag will probably droop off before he returns to New Zealand.”
Until that happens, Mr Duffy hopes Grim’s pacific getaway will reveal much more about the secretive animals’ life cycle.
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