Surfer Attacked By Shark At Gnarabup
Fisheries authorities in Western Australia are responding to reports a man has been bitten by a shark near Margaret River in the state's South West.
In a preliminary statement, WA's Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) said it was investigating a possible great white shark bite near Boat Ramp sbommie, offshore from Gnarabup, 280 kilometres south of Perth.
The man was bitten about 8:45am, with the department working with local authorities to determine details.
A St John Ambulance spokesperson said the man, a surfer in his 20s, was in a stable condition with non-life threatening injuries and would be transferred to Bunbury Hospital for additional treatment.
The patient was originally taken to Margaret River hospital by private transport.
The incident captured on Swellnet's Boat Ramp surf cam (link)
The Shire of Augusta-Margaret River has closed all beaches between Gas Bay and the mouth of the Margaret River until further notice.
"To ensure the safety of our community, please do not enter the water during this time," the shire statement reads.
// ANTHONY PANCIA
© Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.
Comments
Whoa, big hit way out to sea....that's heavy
Unfortunate but sounds like a very lucky boy. Hope the victim has a speedy recovery.
Thats a long and lonly paddle back. Hope the damage isn't too life altering.
ab-so-fuknlutely you'd be looking over your shoulder wouldn't you
A long paddle and probably not alone. I bet the shark followed him in for a bit but was wondering in "shark think" WTF after hitting the board, tasting wetsuit and getting punched - just enough to hesitate and not have another go.
When you watch some wildlife shows it can surprise how cautious predators can be. One recently i saw was a scary looking spotted hyena trying to grab a baby seal. It was super hesitant and the baby seal's seemingly futile efforts to fight back by biting was enough to make it skulk away (the mum seal was supposedly incoming too).
Fight if you can.
Looked like he was motoring on the way in, fuelled by a heavy dose of adrenalin no doubt. His heart must of sank a bit when he didn't scratch into that first wave though.
I imagine the shark would have been on the guys tail somewhere there but luckily it didn't follow through with the attack. I say 'attack' because I doubt that first hit was exploratory, that looked to be intent to disable the victim to me.
Spot on mate, as important as it is for a wild animal to eat its also very important to remain free from injury’s that could hinder hunting ability. I’ve had shark eyes glassed into all my recent boards and think it’s a worthwhile investment for the reasons you point out relating to predators need for caution.
Yiikes
Hopefully he makes a full recovery, that's a long way out, very lucky.
I just heard on the radio (JJ) that the guy had to punch the shark away as it was biting his leg. :o
Scary place to be! Hope he is ok and has quick recovery.
Whoa. That paddle in would have been terrifying. Hope he's okay
hits different when it's not far from home, heavy situation, hopefully he makes a full recovery
Pancia says 2.5 mt GWS
Looks like a couple of other guys on either side of him albeit a fair way... the horror we all gamble with
Apparently just two in the water at boaties this morning. One went in, and not long after this occurred to the guy solo.
Ah must be my aging eyes... nup hang on, dirty fone screen duhh
Hearing about shark attacks is one thing, seeing footage of them is even scarier.
Very lucky to get away with a love bight. That sort of experience would do my head in I reckon.
Another amazing rescue in remote lineup...best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Agree with the crew...that's a long way out.
tbb followed up the link to this swellnet cam location.
Salute to #1 swellnet for remarkable cam footage.
Live Footage is next level...gotta be over 1km from cam zoom to surfers.
Consider the Wind Gusts buffeting the cam & Cross Chop / Offshore Spray in the lineup.
Ten News ran this frontline footage & did credit #1[swellnet] clearly on 'top right' of TV screen.
Makes one wonder if this surfer was alone and a viewer saw that live on cam.
Coz if one saw that live...you'd be dialling [000]
Reckon Authorities will want to access this telling Swellnet cam footage.
Note: Previous surf cam footage of Shark Attack is not credited to swellnet & rebadged as other.
Just sharing that to ensure everything is in order with News > Copyright use of surf cam Live footage.
Recapping that tonight's Ten News did rightly credit #1 [swellnet]
Well done all!
Shiiiiit!!!
Glad he's ok(ish)
Wishing a speedy recovery.
Fark, that hit him pretty hard. Lucky guy.
I rocked up there this morning looking to have a swim but they were closing the beach due to a "shark sighting"
Scary stuff for the poor guy attacked
Always wondered how there's not more attacks in that main part of Margaret River, it always seems to be Gracetown.
I think there's more seal haulouts around cape naturaliste and bunker bay area, that stretch from gracetown to the northern cape is pretty notorious for big sharks coming close to shore for a feed
Lot of marine life in that stretch around Bunkers to Meelup. Always in the back of the mind surfing there
yeah on the west side too around 3 bears and windmills, that whole cape area always felt a bit sketch to me
Very different stretch of coast geographically
even though quite close to one another. Gracetown headed north to cape naturaliste area is granite rock mostly less limestone reefs as such with some deep channels running parallel to shores , where once past Cape mentelle south is more ancient limestone , clumps / fingers stretching out from coast forming reefs and bombies , maybe different as far as shark hunting habitat goes ? Old mate was very lucky to flat water paddle all that way bleeding which seems to indicate maybe he was unlucky with an investigative bite rather than being lined up for a meal?
*Disclaimer just a guess / observation before the "experts" line up to shoot me down .
I just always think of the actuality of it all. Does anyone know how the hell he got back in? I just imagine that windy, rippy paddle in, bleeding, not knowing if it will come back.....What insane courage. That is next level.
as opposed to doing what?
Thats a massive big surface strike.
Must have got mostly board for the guy to come out of it with non life threatening injuries.
All the best for the heal up.
Ballina boy.
Really?
Footage on the news of him in the ambo bed.
Thanks be to whatever god's that he survived. It will interesting to hear the first-hand account; no doubt harrowing - all power to that man for paddling in alone after that experience.
Not wanting to inflame a hateful debate but you add this incident to NF drone footage from JBay a few weeks ago and (for me) it's easy (lazy) to conclude we are being given relevant recent confirmatory information that we are not the preferred item in their food chain. As with Campbell above, I'm no scientist - but if this information means we can sand off just one of the layers that demonize these animals, that IMO are just going about their pre-historic business, I think that "acceptance" that we have to learn to co-exist with them might get a small run.
There is no co-existing when the fucker is eating you.
surfed a stretch between there and gracetown at xmas time ,wasnt comfortable at all , fun waves tough
hope the guy heals up and gets back out !!
Decent hit, something must have spooked the White be interesting to see the board or maybe a leg rope getting in the way like Fanning.
Very lucky not to get an artery... long paddle.
Hoping for a speedy recovery.
After looking more closely i was surprised how fast he paddled to almost catch the first wave. Quite a distance from the big splash. Impressive paddle speed. Well done.
sharks are increasing so will move into areas that will surprise the hell out of us
Sharks have numbers world wide have actually been reducing for many years:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-03173-9
Whilst I won't downplay scientific data, the reality is, those of us that spend a lot of time on the water (commercial, charter & rec fishing) are noticing dramatic increases in numbers/encounters over the last 10-15 years.
I don't doubt any experienced water person's anecdotal experiences.
I wonder why the practicalities don't match the research?
Could it be a case of the science being behind the practice?
The methodology used to estimate shark populations?
Or could it be a case of different trends happening with different species or different environments?
Could just be regional.
My experience is Northern Australia. Basically Sunny Coast right across to NW WA.
Besides my experiences, every single person (that fishes) I have spoken to in that region has expressed the increase in shark numbers/activity.
I've also noticed increase numbers of GWS in the Southern GBR during Whale season.
I have no doubt that world wide, and particularly through Asia, that shark numbers in general are decreasing, I, amongst countless others, are just experiencing the opposite through Northern Australia.
Appreciate your insight and observations.
What Fitzy said.
There are over 500 species of shark.
Some species in some regions are thriving- whalers in Aus waters for eg.
Some species in some areas are depleted - oceanic white-tips in the Indo-Pacific for eg.
Yep, Fitzy is correct.
Australia has probably the most strictly regulated pelagic shark fishery in the world. I worked on commercial drum line boats many years ago and it was a completely different world then, a bit of a free for all.
Whalers were probably the most common shark to get hooked back then, massive ones, often full of pups, which were also cut from the sharks and sold on. The few guys that are left doing it only have a very small amount of quota and other normally targeted species have been heavily decreased due to more recent and broad protection laws, both state and federally.
sorry, forgot to say great white sharks, are increasing numbers, they're protected species, as if anyone believes they are not!
Unbelievable footage of a classic GWS ambush hit! Then takes a leaf out of Colin Rowlands experience to fight back (1 Dec 2016 @ Seven mile bch. NSW ), where he fought the beast & also had a long paddle (assisted) whilst bleeding from Kicking it in the teeth on the third attempt to take him! Both victims are lucky to still be with us! Welcome to the bite club Ballina boy.
He's still in hospital, though I'm hoping to have a chat with old mate tomorrow.
After seeing the Vid what a lucky Bloke...
A great white has up to 28 exposed teeth in its upper jaw and up to 25 in its lower jaw, giving a total of around 50. But there will be five or six rows of teeth coming through behind those, each at a different stage of development.
Reminds me of this Guy - Abe McGrath was Hit in 2017 by a 3m GWS Board got snapped but only getting one Gash to his Thigh .
Abe's a Byron kid- rips.
That hit was at Iluka- destroyed the board.
Stu do you guys have a protocol/procedure to delete footage of a fatal attack should one of your cams catch it? How would you even know if one of your cams caught it?
Why would you delete the footage?
Out of respect to the family I would think. Probably other reasons not to have footage of someones death readily available
Good question.
We used to have a system to remove surfcam replays (from the website) for just such circumstances. However, we have recently upgraded our surfcam replays that uses a completely new form of technology, so we're in the middle of rebuilding the associated QC system (however, it's low on the list of dev priorities right now).
Of course, in order for the QC system to work we need to be alerted to the incident before someone tries to access the replay. This occurred during the Greeny attack a few years ago: we took down the video as soon as we heard about it, but shortly prior to this, unauthorised copies of the incident were made by a few news outlets, which was then run - without permission - across their websites and TV stations.
So, it's a bit of a grey area. In the eighteen years that Swellnet's operated live surfcams, we've only had two such incident (fatal) occur - the Greenmount shark attack, and also a heart attack victim at Cronulla Point last year - so chances of it happening again are very low (given there are 11,000 beaches around the country). But, we'll always do our best to respond in a respectful way.