A world-leading shark expert's 300-day wait for Department of Conservation permits to study great white sharks in the Bay of Plenty has been slammed as 'simply not acceptable”.

Dr Riley Elliott has revealed he'd sought permits to tag and study the sharks in the waters around the Bay of Plenty, a process he said should take 20 days.

He was speaking to Stuff in the wake of a near-miss incident on Monday, when Vaughan Wilson was surfing with a friend and his teenage son at Matakana Island.

'It was ferocious, jaws wide open, definitely in hunting mode,” says Wilson.

'It was a 3.5m monster, out for a kill. It launched itself out of the water until its whole body was fully airborne, about half a metre above the ocean, like it was flying.

'I screamed ‘shark, shark', at the top of my lungs but the waves were so high and there was so much white water around, no-one could hear me even though I'm known for being pretty bloody loud.”

Wilson says the boy's sudden change in direction may have stopped him being attacked.

Dr Riley Elliott at work with a mako shark in the Coromandel. Photo: Amber Jones.

Riley says he had applied for the permit before the fatal attack on Kaelah Marlow in January 2021 and before sharks were found dead in the Bowentown area in December 2021.

He had also raised fears in the past that a lack of research could lead to more fatal attacks.

'I have the ability to give people answers to protect people and the sharks.”

Elliott says people were becoming more and more frightened, and he had heard talk amongst locals of 'taking action into their own hands”.

'It's an endangered species that hasn't done anything wrong yet. The Department of Conservation is putting them in a vulnerable position.

'People are scared, and it isn't necessary.”

DoC declined an interview request but in a written statement said it 'continues to work through Dr Riley Elliott's permit application”.

It was 'currently undertaking iwi consultation, a core and important part of the application process”.

Waitaki MP and National conservation spokesperson Jacqui Dean says delays at the Department of Conservation were becoming common, and that excuses about Covid-19 disruption were 'wearing a bit thin”.

Waitaki MP and National conservation spokesperson Jacqui Dean. Bejon Haswell/Stuff.

'As this application is still in progress we cannot provide further comment.”

The delay in processing Elliott's application was branded 'simply not acceptable” by National Conservation spokesperson Jacqui Dean MP.

'Regrettably DoC taking a long time to process a consent or permit is common now,” she says.

'A lot of permitting is taking an inordinate amount of time.”

She says DoC has cited the impact of Covid-19 for the backlog, something she said was an 'excuse that's wearing a bit thin”.

'Close on a year is simply not acceptable.”

She also says it was counterintuitive for DoC to be 'holding up a scientific inquiry”.

'The more we know about our endangered species, the more we can support them.”

Stuff has also requested comment from Minister of Conservation Kiri Alan MP.

- Benn Bathgate/Stuff