A great white shark, believed to be around 3m long, has been spotted leaping out of the water off the coast of Whangārei. 

Whangārei Heads local Chris Nathan watched from his home overlooking Reotahi Bay as the white pointer made a “hell of splash” as it jumped earlier this afternoon. 

Nathan first saw the shark around 12pm but it proceeded to hang around for at least 40 minutes. During that time, he saw it leap out of the water twice. 

The sighting was the first time Nathan, a long-time Whangārei Heads resident, had seen a great white shark in the area or one jump for that matter. 

“I’ve seen a mako jump,” he said. “This definitely wasn’t a mako though or a bronzie [bronze whaler].” 

Nathan recognised it as a great white because of the shark’s white underbelly. 

While he thought the shark measured around 3m long, he said it could have been bigger based on the splash. 

News of the shark was not a surprise to some as others shared recent encounters with great whites in the Whangārei Heads area. 

A woman said her 19-year-old son and his friend came across “a large one” as they spearfished at Peach Cove, near the Bream Head Scenic Reserve, on Boxing Day. 

She said the pair thought the shark had been bigger than their 12-foot [3.6m] boat. 

A New Zealand app that displays the locations of great white sharks in real time shows a 1.4m baby great white, known as SWAJ, is currently off the coast of Kaipara near Glinks Gully. 

The Great White App shows SWAJ off the coast of Kaipara. Photo / Great White App 

Last March, SWAJ - Jaws backwards - spent more than a month nestled in the southern corner of Doubtless Bay in the Far North. The shark - described by shark scientist Dr Riley Elliott as the “cutest” and “smallest” he had seen - had journeyed from Tauranga Harbour to the Mangōnui coastline. 

At the time Elliott thought murky waters caused by Cyclone Gabrielle may have forced her out as hunting could have been difficult, or the nursery range of a great white shark could be larger than theorised. 

“The animals go where the food is,” he said. 

Elliott urged people, especially the older generation who grew up under the Jaws illusion, to take greater care in and around the country’s coasts by not leaving set nets unobserved. 

“There are still the 60- to 70-year-old men who still think a great shark is a dead shark,” he said. 

His advice for anyone who may catch a shark was to cut the line as close to the hook as possible and let it go. 

“Otherwise it could become distressed to the point of death.” 

According to the Department of Conservation, great white sharks are present around the New Zealand coastline all year round but most encounters occur between December and May. 

Shark sightings peak during spring and summer as several coastal shark species head inshore to pup and feed inshore.