Finals day at the World Surf League’s New Zealand Pro came to an abrupt halt on Monday morning after the league’s water photographer was injured in a wildlife encounter.

The men’s semi-final between Brazilians Yago Dora and Italo Ferreira was paused with about 20 minutes left on the clock, with WSL VP of tours and competition Rento Hickel confirming the photographer had been transported to the hospital with minor injuries.

“We activate the code red when it’s a sea life attack on a surfer or a photographer. This time it was our beloved water photographer and thank God he’s in good spirits. He’s well considering what happened,” Hickel said on the WSL broadcast.

“He has small puncture wounds and he’s already in the ambulance on his way to hospital. We’ve put the event on hold and we’re going into a low tide so the next call we’re going to assess when to resume this heat between Yago and Italo will be at 12 noon for a possible 12.35pm start.”

Hickel was not certain what animal the encounter was with.

“At this stage we’re not certain if it was a shark or a sea lion. The doctor that was here helping on the scene was inclined to think it was a sea lion instead of a shark.

“Nevertheless, very scary. Italo and Yago were very shaken. They saw the splash and the incident, so another reason to put the event on hold.

“Hopefully we can wrap the event today.”

- More to come.

Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.