Reports are filtering in of yet another Shark incident in the Ballina Shire. This time the incident was located a few clicks to the north of Ballina at Sharpes Beach – one of the most popular surfing beaches on the stretch of coast.
Local shaper Scott Crump witnessed the attack and told the Gold Coast Bulletin, “In my mind I was thinking: That guy just got nailed by a shark. He was a tall skinny guy in his late 20s surfing with three friends. There was just one other guy between me and him when it happened … I was maybe 50m away.
“He screamed loudly and I knew something was really wrong, then his friends were calling out to everyone to paddle in.
“It was a pretty spooky thing, man, it took his fins out and he got launched into the air,” he said. “It was a pretty spooky thing, man, it took his fins out and he got launched into the air.”
A Northern NSW Local Health District spokesperson said the surfer received a couple of stitches at the Ballina Hospital to a “very minor” wound to his lower right leg.
It’s the second such incident in a month in the area, and just the most recent in a seemingly endless run. While the majority of most recent incidents and attacks have taken place in and around Lighthouse Beach, there have been numerous attacks and sightings as far north as Byron Bay over the last couple of years.
Earlier this week a large shark was photographed swimming just metres from the shore at Seven-Mile beach.
It’s extremely lucky that the last two surfers involved in these attacks have survived … one has to wonder when that luck will run out.
As we enter the summer months, the number of surfers and swimmers in the water will only increase as holidaymakers filter into Ballina, Lennox and Byron. Will this force the hand of the State Government and bring this issue to the fore?
