Authorities are looking into the claims made by surfer Paul Welsh, 46, about the shark that attacked him Mona Vale Basin yesterday.

That’s a wobbegong on the left, and a white on the right, in case you were confussed.

As reported here at Tracksmag.com Paul Welsh, 46, was said to be pushing his son into waves at The Basin north of Mona Vale Beach at around 8am yesterday when he was attacked from below and forced into the air by the blow of a shark. He (and witnesses) then stated there was a tug of war between the two. A tug of war Paul said, “…I won.”

NSW Primary Industries Minister Steve Whan says efforts are now being made to confirm the surfer’s story. “We do need to confirm and see what type of shark it was or confirm that a shark was actually involved in the attack and if so, what type of shark it was,” he said.

News that Paul had sold his story to channel Nine before even reaching the hospital has some people obviously suspicious (even us here at Tracksmag.com), but on hearing Paul’s claims to newspapers and the added testimony of shark expert and Surfwatch director Michael Brown (who witnessed the incident), and our photographer Matt Jones who spoke directly with Paul after the incident, it all sounded legit.

Michael Brown of Terry Hills has been pushing hard for his service of helicopter shark patrols to be government funded to the tune of around $150,000 dollars (total cost $200,000). He has since retracted this request due to concerns that if this contract was undertaken government authorities would use gag orders to suppress information for fear of scaring the populous.

Paul’s wounds minutes after the incident. Photo: Matt Jones

Michael had warned of imminent attacks years before Sydney’s unusual run of attacks in the past few years. He’s followed and photographed giant great whites swimming in and around some of Sydney’s most popular beaches.

His reports on ABC radio (and others) about yesterday’s incident was alarming. Explaining that he was in the water with his 13-year-old son swimming when he saw “a whole lot of thrashing”.

“It’s launched straight up into him, knocked him out of the water and then latched onto his leg, and luckily, he had a chance to grab onto a rock and the shark’s actually thrashing, trying to drag him back into the water,” he said. “He’s managed to release himself from the shark and crawl up onto the rocks and just had a big bite mark in his leg and blood just streaming out of it.” He also explained the style of attack from his point of view was that of a great white, coming from underneath and hitting hard. He also mentioned the shape of the tale being that familiar with a juvenile white.

That’s pretty strong stuff. What’s interesting now is that a tooth has been found in Paul’s leg and it appears to be, wait for it, the tooth of a wobbegong. The wobbegong is considered the cuddly friendly cousin in the shark family. If the tooth is indeed one of the latter and not that of a juvenile white or another similar make then this could explain the less then severe wounds Paul suffered. Now, while any run in with a sea creature that’s trying to gnaw on you is never fear free, this could be a case of the boy that cried wolf. And what of the media sound waves Michael Brown was sending that it was a horrible incident? The kind he warned about time-and-time again and one that should wake up the government. Vested interest? Mmm.

While I’m glad it wasn’t my leg and those of us that weren’t there are only guessing, I hope for Paul’s sake (and Michael’s) that no porky pies are being told.

Watch this space.

By Col B