News Service from House Harris

NSW: Surfer saw violent splashing before being bitten by shark

SYDNEY, Jan 11 AAP - A man surfing on the far north coast of NSW saw violent splashing before being bitten on the thigh by a shark, a local lifeguard says.

Emergency services were called to Fingal Head, south of Tweed Heads, following reports a 31-year-old board rider had been attacked by a shark just before 9.30am (AEDT) on Sunday.

The man was bitten on the fleshy part of his left thigh while surfing about 70m offshore, NSW Police said.

Northern NSW lifeguard coordinator Stephen Leahy said the man, believed to be from Brisbane, was surfing at the unpatrolled South Fingal beach with three friends when he was attacked.

"Witnesses indicate that there were a number of dolphins close to the group ... and the next minute there was a violent splashing in the water," Mr Leahy told AAP.

"Then the patient realised that he'd been bitten on his leg.

"He has received a reasonable-sized bite to his upper thigh. The good news is that no major arteries or bones were destroyed."

Mr Leahy said the surfer's mates brought him ashore and used the leg rope of his surfboard as a tourniquet and applied towels and sheets to stem the bleeding.

Police said a landing zone was established on Fingal Road for the Careflight helicopter which arrived about 10am (AEDT).

The man was then flown to Gold Coast Hospital where he was in a stable condition, a Careflight spokesman told AAP.

"His wound is not life threatening," the spokesman said.

All beaches between Fingal Head and Kingscliff were closed on Sunday while another helicopter performed a precautionary sweep of the area but there was no sighting of sharks.

Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald said that 577 great white sharks were caught in nets along the NSW coast between 1950 and 2008.

In the past seven years, 25 have been caught in the Newcastle area, 15 in the north Sydney area and eight each in Sydney's south and the Illawarra.

Mr Macdonald said before the nets were established in 1937 there was one fatal attack each year.

"We have had only one since the 51 beaches were meshed and that was more than 50 years ago," Mr Macdonald said in a statement.

"There are no guarantees when swimming at our beautiful beaches and the fact remains you are more likely to die on the way to the beach than be taken by a shark.

"Recently we had another tragedy in Western Australia, where beaches are not netted. We do not want that in NSW."

Brian Guest was last seen snorkelling for crabs at Cote d'Azur Gardens beach off the Western Australian coast last month.

The 51-year-old's body has not been recovered but witnesses told local police they spotted a fin and also saw blood in the water at the time of the suspected attack.