The search will continue today for a missing fisherman who disappeared after the inflatable dinghy he was in flipped in an estuary north of Auckland.
Two men were in the 2.5m boat when the vessel capsized in Whangateau Harbour, near Leigh, east of Warkworth, about 11am yesterday, police said.
Police, Coastguard, Westpac Rescue and other maritime resources were involved in searching for the man.
Surf Lifesaving northern regional duty officer Brad Ward Able said the search was called off just before 4pm by police "based on a number of factors".
They included the amount of time the man was in the water and "environmental factors", he said.
The search would continue today, he said.
The pair were lost overboard when their small inflatable dinghy flipped as they tried to retrieve an oar.
"They lost an oar overboard and in reaching for the oar as it floated away they capsized their boat and got into difficulty."
He said while the pair weren't far from the shore the water was fairly deep and the current was running strongly.
One of the men was able to swim back to shore and raised the alarm.
The missing man, aged between 24-26, wasn't wearing a lifejacket and was wearing a big, heavy leather jacket when he fell into the water.
Ward Able said there were four inflatable rescue boats on the water with around 20 lifeguards involved in the search.
The police Eagle helicopter and the Westpac Rescue Helicopter were also involved in air searches scouring the shoreline for any of the sign of the missing man.
Ward Able said a cordon was also being set up at sea to try and trap the body before it washed into the Pacific Ocean with the change to an outgoing tide.
Police said searchers had conducted an "extensive" shore line and water search.
A local resident said it was hard to know why searchers hadn't found the man as the harbour was relatively shallow and it had been a calm, fine day.
