Massey University researchers captured some dramatic footage of a nearly 15-foot great white shark on a recent research expedition to the Southwest Pacific.
Dr Adam Smith and his team of researchers deployed their Baited Remote Underwater Video system off of North Island in New Zealand. A curious white shark decided to try and sneak away with the team’s surveillance system.
“The shark calmly circled the bait for a few minutes before approaching the gear and giving it a few ‘curiosity bites,'” Smith said. “It then effortlessly picked up the entire BRUV set, swam with it up to the surface, and then dropped it back to the sea floor. It did this a total of three times, before losing interest and swimming off.”
The project aims to quantify patterns in fish biodiversity across the Southwest Pacific, by reference to particular habitats and environmental conditions, and human impacts. They also hope to gain a better understanding New Zealand’s marine ecosystems in a regional context, and plan on doing similar surveys in the Hauraki Gulf region over the coming months.
The footage from the Pacific will also contribute to the Global FinPrint project, which is undertaking a huge number of BRUV surveys in coastal tropical regions across the world to fill critical information gaps about the diminishing number of sharks and rays.
“When the gear is on the seabed, we don’t have a live feed so we have no idea what we’re going to see when we review the footage at the end of the day,” Smith said. “The most common sharks were grey and whitetip reef sharks, but we also encountered tiger sharks, hammerheads, and some very obnoxious octopus.”
The BRUV project was one of several biodiversity projects undertaken as part of the Auckland Museum-led research expedition on board the 40-m research vessel, RV Braveheart. The six-week expedition left New Caledonia in July, venturing to southern Fiji, Tonga, the Kermadecs, and finished up in Tauranga in September.