Researchers are keeping a close eye on a leopard seal in Auckland's Waitemata Harbour after she was seen bleeding from her face.

It's believed the seal, named Owha, was shot above her left nostril.

NIWA's Marine Mammal Biologist Dr Krista Hupman says Owha has a clear bullet wound seeping with blood.

Hupman says there have been similar cases in the past.

"It's really alarming to think that people would take these actions on leopard seals never been aggressive towards humans in our country, never attacked anybody."

Owha the leopard seal. Photo / Michael Craig

She says people often become frustrated with the animals who we share our waterways with.

"People think that maybe take it into their own hands to try and quote 'get rid of them' and that it might be a good idea. But the fact that these animals have swum all the way from the Antarctic to be in New Zealand waters in the first place, they know their way around."

Owha is a familiar sight in Auckland. She was resident in Auckland waters from September 2015 to March 2017, and spent much of 2017 moving between Whangārei and Tutukaka.

Leopard seal research and protection team LeopardSeals.org said Owha had been residing in New Zealand waters since at least 2012, when she was photographed off the coast of Dunedin.

Owha is short for her name "He owha nā ōku tūpuna", which translates to "treasured gift from our ancestors", received from Auckland hapū Ngāti Whātua Ōrakei.

Leopard seals are a native species and protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act 1978.