When a 12-year-old surfer came within touching distance of a shark yesterday at Omanu Beach, his first reaction was to stay calm and quietly lead his younger brother away from danger.

The shark, guessed to be over 2m, was spotted close to the shoreline between Oceanbeach Rd and Marine Parade in Tauranga at 2.20pm yesterday.

“He didn’t want to freak his younger brother out so didn’t tell him until after he was out of the water,” mother Jane Trask says.

But the boys were not fazed and Jane says it was only an hour before they ran back into the surf for another go.

A shark was sighted swimming the shores of the beach in Mount Maunganui. Photo supplied.

“I told them how sharks don’t travel in packs and you just have to be aware when you’re in the water and hop out if you see something.”

She estimated the shark’s length by comparing the length of her boys’ surfboard to the length between the sharks fin and the tail.

Jane took a video of the shark on her phone where the boys can be heard yelling excitedly between each other.

“It’s going to beach itself!” one says.

“I’m going in the water!” says another.

“Mum, I’ve never been so close a shark!”

Later in the day, about 5.30pm, another local spotted the shark and followed it with his friend for about 2km.

Martin Stewart says he followed it back towards Omanu where he saw other young children boogie boarding in the surf.

“They were told to get out of the water by their parents and both the parents and the kids seemed a bit freaked out,” Martin says.

He also agreed the shark was about 2m long.

Shark scientist Dr Riley Elliott says even as it was getting colder, it was not uncommon to see the sharks so close to the shoreline.

“The weather right now is balmier than it otherwise would be so we’re still seeing a lot of sea life activity,” Riley says.

He says the shark had a 99 per cent chance of being a bronze whaler as most were in the Mount Maunganui and Papamoa areas.

“They are pretty much harmless to people unless you overlap with fishing and disposing of fish.”