A young man killed in a suspected great white shark attack near the Chatham Islands was an “amazing boy” who loved fishing and diving, his grieving father says.
Jade Kahukore-Dixon, 24, was diving off a boat in the islands, 800 kilometres east of the South Island, when he was bitten by a shark on Tuesday morning.
He was brought to Waitangi Wharf, but died soon after at Chatham Islands Health Centre.
Kahukore-Dixon’s father, Jacky Dixon, told Stuff he had limited information about what had happened to his son, but had been told he’d been killed by a great white shark.
“I couldn’t believe it. I kept picturing him when he was little. I’m not going to have my son,” he said through tears.
Dixon said his son was a “very tough, young fella” who “loved fishing and diving” from a young age.
“He would do anything to protect his family. He was an amazing boy, a very much loved member of the family.”
Kahukore-Dixon was a commercial diver who lived on the Chatham Islands and harvested paua and kina.
He would often see great white sharks, his father said, but wasn’t afraid of them.
“He thought he was one with the ocean,” he said.
Dixon, who lives in Hawke’s Bay, said if his son saw a shark while diving, he’d hold his breath and hide behind rocks on the ocean floor.
“Then he would try to sneak back to the boat before the sharks saw him. He’d do that every time,” he said.
About four years ago, Kahukore-Dixon had a near-miss.
“His mate was timing him and thought ‘nah he’s gone down there for too long’,” Dixon said.
“His mate jumped in, swam down there and Jade’s foot was stuck under a rock.
“He couldn’t get out and his mate freed his foot and got him up and saved his life.”
Kahukore-Dixon was the sole director and shareholder of newly formed company Nomad Diving Limited, which was registered in June.
In 2018, he was listed as one of the outstanding young players in the Chatham Islands rugby squad that played various South Island clubs on tour.
He attended Hastings Boy High School and represented the school in a regional chess tournament. He and his brother Cayne were brought up by their Koru and “Nanny” Wayne and Donna Dixon.
Dixon said his son “wasn’t scared of nothing”.
“When he used to play rugby when he was young the whole sideline would yell out help Jade, somebody help Jade because he would be in the middle of whole maul fighting for that ball and he would get that ball out of that maul all by himself and run.”
Chatham Islands mayor Monique Croon earlier told Stuff she knew Kahukore-Dixon.
“He’s a local boy. He’s well-known, well-liked and this will be pretty devastating for our commercial divers. It’s the biggest risk – the biggest fear,” Croon said.
“The community will be in total shock.”
A shark researcher who survived an attack from a great white shark while free diving off the Chatham Islands told Stuff the fatality was “incredibly tragic and incredibly sad”.
Kina Scollay said shark attacks in the waters surrounding the islands were rare.
He said there was a long history of sharks being sighted in the area since the blue cod fishing boom last century.
The fatality is the second tragedy in the small island community this month after well known farmer and Kaumātua George Te Nera Goomes, 70, died in a motorcycle crash.
This article originally appeared on Stuff and is republished here with permission.
