Endorsed Project

Great White Shark Protection Project

Agency funded: The Great White Project (Dr Riley Elliott), with NIWA

Moana Mark endorses research tagging and tracking New Zealand’s great white sharks, a threatened and protected species that most people fear and few understand.

Did you know?

The great white shark, mangō, is a protected species in New Zealand, yet we know surprisingly little about how many there are or where they go.

Why study great white sharks?

They are apex predators that keep marine ecosystems in balance, but basic questions about their numbers and movements are unanswered, and fear has long outrun understanding.

How are they studied?

Satellite and acoustic tags are fitted to individual sharks around Rakiura / Stewart Island, and their movements are followed and shared with the public through a live tracking app. Fifteen great whites were tagged across two trips in 2025.

What does this research tell us?

Tracking shows where the sharks travel, when they gather and how long they stay, the information needed to protect them and to keep people safe.

How does this help protect them?

It builds the case for protecting a threatened species, and by letting people follow named, tracked sharks it turns a feared animal into one worth saving.

Help us protect New Zealand’s great white sharks by keeping the tags in the water.

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