Historical reference record — not independently verified
Shark incident at Long Beach Southland New Zealand — February 1962
Original historical summary
The original reference is retained below. Supplementary source details appear in the fact panel; protected facts and unresolved differences remain unchanged.
A historical reference describes an event at Long Beach Southland New Zealand in 1962-02. Recorded activity: Swimming; deliberately grabbed what was thought to be kelp. Classification: Provoked. Outcome: Non-fatal.
Original reference details
- Location recorded in the historical reference: Long Beach Southland New Zealand.
- Date: 1962-02.
- Activity: Swimming; deliberately grabbed what was thought to be kelp.
- Classification: Provoked.
- Outcome: Non-fatal.
Source limitations and unresolved differences
- No shark species identification is supported by the retained evidence.
- The date is intentionally shown with limited precision; no day is invented.
- This restoration uses a supplied historical summary citing the general GSAF incident log, not a case-level primary document. It has not been independently verified.
- The supplied source lists 1962-02-18; the existing reviewed date is retained pending case-level reconciliation.
Fact panel
- Date
- February 1962
- Date precision
- Month
- Location
- Long Beach Southland New Zealand
- Country
- New Zealand
- Activity
- Swimming; deliberately grabbed what was thought to be kelp
- Incident classification
- Provoked
- Area / state
- Southland
- Person / vessel
- Fred Mason
- Age
- 15.0
- Sex
- M
- Outcome
- Non-fatal
- Species
- 1.8 m [6'] shark
- Species confidence
- Reported
- Coordinate precision
- Region
Incident location
Long Beach, Southland, New Zealand
Approximate area: Southland
The marker represents the named area, not the exact incident site.
The interactive map loads when it comes into view. Incident details remain available as text.
Location precision: Approximate area
Representative map position for Southland from Natural Earth. This marks the general area, not the exact incident site. This is historical location context, not live shark tracking or a measure of risk.
Sources and verification
- Historical incident log (general reference) — Global Shark Attack FileSupports: General reference cited by the supplied historical summary; not independently checked against a case-level record.
- GSAF-derived structured public mirror (sascha-pst/bullish_on_sharks/global_shark_attacks.csv) — github.comSupports: Supplementary historical fields; existing reviewed facts retained
Shark incident records can change as investigations develop. This page shows the current verification status and was last restored from supplied historical reference material on 2026-09-04.
Historical facts retain the provenance and uncertainty of the cited references. Source timestamps record when the supplied material was imported, not an independent source retrieval or verification.
Supplementary content updated: 2026-09-24. This does not change the original verification status or review date.