Swim with sharks, expect to get bitten.
That's the view of shark scientist Riley Elliott, following a woman's encounter with what's believed to be a sevengill shark at Curio Bay on Thursday afternoon.
The French tourist received a deep gash to back of her leg after the shark attacked her while she was out bodyboarding with friends.
"I kept looking at the beach and thinking something wasn't right, and I looked again and I saw someone running so I quickly got in my car, drove down there and it was a shark attack," Catlins Surf's Nick Smart told Newshub.
Mr Elliott, a PhD Student at the University of Auckland, told The AM Show on Friday while it would have been "a shock" for the tourist, it's an area known for its robust ecosystem.
"There's the full food chain there because it's a healthy ecosystem. At the top of that stands sharks, so it shouldn't be a surprise to us."
Even so, sharks don't go out of their way to attack humans - we're not a part of that food chain.
"These animals are cautious and not malicious maneaters. They don't eat people, otherwise it would be in the news every day."
When a shark attacks a human, Mr Elliott says it's made a mistake - the sevengill has poor eyesight, and wouldn't have deliberately targeted the tourist.
"When you have foraging grounds overlapping with our recreation grounds, you get these mistaken identity bites."
While attacks are rare, they are on the rise. Mr Elliott says warming waters and depleted food sources are pushing sharks into areas they wouldn't normally go - areas often popular with surfers.
This has led to shark culls in Australia, which Mr Elliott has worked to end.
"We've shown in science that killing sharks does not work to reduce the risk."
And for some thrill-seekers, he says the risk of getting bitten by a shark is all part of the fun.
"If we put escalators up Mt Everest, people are going to stop climbing."
Newshub.
