Photo: Kym Falvey // 9 News
An Australian surfer is lucky to be alive after a shocking shark encounter. Brad Ross had his session abruptly end when a 16-foot great white bit his board completely in half.
The incident occurred around 7:30 a.m. on Monday at Cabarita Beach, located on the north coast of New South Wales. According to onlookers, who also managed to capture video of the encounter, the bite occurred in only waist-deep water. “The man was sitting on his board and the shark literally bit the board behind his butt,” bystander Kym Falvey told ABC.
“The board exploded, one half went that way, the other half went that way, there was just whitewash and debris everywhere,” Kane Douglas, another surfer in the water, added.
According to Gold Coast shaper James Jamesson, the surfer appeared surprisingly unfazed by the incident. “He was more concerned about just grabbing his son and making it to work on time,” he told ABC. “I think he’s still going to have to process it, but he was the most unfazed person up there.”
The bite prompted a response from multiple agencies, including NSW Police, Surf Life Saving (SLS) and the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD). Shark biologists from the DPIRD analyzed photos and determined the species involved was likely to be a white shark.
Only a few hours later, the SharkSmart App, a service run by the NSW government that provides real-time shark alerts from listening stations and smart drum lines set up along the coast, reported that a 16-foot great white shark was hooked and released from a smart drum line at Cabarita Beach. A drone operator also captured footage of a large shark nearby.
In response, Cabarita Beach has been closed and two additional smart drum lines have been set up in addition to the five already in place.
