Deadly trap for a great white shark

A 4.8 metre long great white shark has been caught off the Waikato coast.

Fisherman Aaron Leboray says the shark was pulled in by a commercial fishing boat and weighed in at a tonne-and-a-half.

He says an autopsy is currently being carried out on the female shark at Raglan Wharf, and it is suspected it may have been pregnant. Mr Leboray says the shark was half-drowned when the fisherman caught it late yesterday evening.

Meanwhile, some of the world's best surfers will not be letting a little thing like a one-tonne shark stop them from surfing at Raglan tomorrow.

Andy Irons, Sunny Garcia, Joel Parkinson and Mark Occhilupo are surfing against four of New Zealand's best surfers in the Vodafone Surf Sessions.

Surfing New Zealand spokesman Ben Kennings visited Raglan Wharf this morning to see the shark and says it is definitely massive, but he says the surfers will have seen sharks before and will not let this catch hold them back.

He says perhaps it is fortunate surfers do not have x-ray vision, so cannot see what is underneath them.

Mr Kennings says the event will definitely go ahead tomorrow.