A third shark attack in as many weeks along Australia’s east coast has got a few summer swimmers a little nervous … including many grey nomads.
Around 500 people were on Newcastle’s Redhead Beach yesterday afternoon – about 100 of them in the water – when a two-metre shark, possibly a Bull shark, attacked a surfer.
Witnesses described the scene as like something from Jaws as Glen Folkard was dragged under by the shark, his leg and torso severely injured, and chunk taken from his surfboard.
With the predator circling, possibly getting ready to attack again, the 44-year-old victim somehow managed to get back on his board and, with the help of surfing mates, get back to shore.
The Newcastle Herald said he had been the furthest out of a group of about 15 surfers.
Lifeguards met Mr Folkard on the beach and he was rushed to John Hunter Hospital in a stable condition. He has since undergone surgery on his leg.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the Westpac rescue helicopter began air patrols after the attack and spotted several large groups of sharks off Redhead and Blacksmiths Beach. It says the patrol saw clusters of sharks as big as 4.5 metres close to the shore, including one that came within 10 metres of an unsuspecting surfer.
Dr David Powter, a marine scientist and senior lecturer at the University of Newcastle, told the newspaper there had been ‘‘quite a few’’ reports of shark sightings close to shore in recent weeks.
“In the past month some of the currents moving up and down the coastline had been closer to shore than usual,” he said. ‘‘That’s brought the bait fish in, which inevitably will bring the predators in – including sharks.’’
On January 4, a surfer was bitten on the arm by a shark at North Avoca beach while further up the New South Wales coast in Yamba, another surfer had a lucky escape when a shark rammed his board and bit off a huge chunk last month.
Redhead Beach is generally netted as part of the New South Wales government’s shark net program that covers more than 50 beaches north and south of Sydney.
Twenty-seven people have been killed by shark attacks in Australia in the past 22 years.
