Calls for more drone patrols to guard against shark attacks on NSW north coast
A surfer shows the damage a shark caused to the board he was sitting on at Cabarita on the Tweed Coast. (Supplied: Kym Falvey)
In short:
Beaches near Cabarita on the NSW North Coast have reopened following Monday's shark-bite incident.
A 4-to-5-metre shark was caught on a smart drum line soon after the incident.
What's next?
The Tweed mayor is calling for more drone patrols after two shark incidents in six weeks.
There are calls for increased drone patrols on the NSW far north coast in the wake of a second shark-bite incident in six weeks.
Beaches near Cabarita reopened on Tuesday morning after a surfer had a frighteningly close encounter with a 4 to 5-metre shark on Monday.
Although the shark took a huge bite out of his board and snapped it in half, the surfer was otherwise unhurt.
Loading...A preliminary assessment of photos by Department of Primary Industry and Regional Development shark biologists suggests the damage to the surfboard was most likely caused by a great white shark.
Soon after the incident, a 4-5m white shark was caught on a smart drum line near Norries Head at Cabarita.
It dragged the line about 1.5km east of the headland and was able to get free of the hook before it was brought alongside a vessel.
While it is likely to be the same shark that took a bite from the surfer's board, it was unable to be tagged and no accurate measurements or biological samples were obtained.
Monday's incident was in the same area where a 16-year-old boy was bitten by a shark in late June.
Chris Cherry is calling for more drone patrols to guard against shark attacks. (ABC News: Shaun Kingma)
Tweed Shire Council Mayor Chris Cherry has called on the state government to fund more drones to guard against future shark encounters.
"At the moment we have got four but they are only funded for the surf lifesaving clubs to man them during school holidays and, as we can see, an incident can happen any time," she said.
"What we really need from the state government is more funding to man those drones."
Steve Shearer says there is growing evidence of a greater interactions in the water. (ABC North Coast: Bruce MacKenzie)
Lennox Head-based surf journalist Steve Shearer said shark tagging and listening stations provided growing evidence of a greater risk in the water on the Mid North Coast and North Coast.
"I know the science is not completely settled on that, but then we are starting to see more and more of these interactions, encounters and, unfortunately, attacks,"he said.
"The pendulum of public opinion went too far when Jaws came out as seeing sharks as these blood thirsty predators, but then it probably swung too far the other way, saying that they are harmless and they are not interested in us."
"We do need to come to terms with the fact that this is an apex, ambush, opportunistic predator and it is a very dangerous animal and we need to be aware of that."
He said that, while not perfect, smart drum lines were probably the best technology to mitigate the risk.