Nathan Ness rushed to Royal Adelaide Hospital after shark bite on family fishing trip off Glenelg

A 16-year-old’s family has told how he survived an incredible encounter with a great white shark that attacked him on the family boat off an Adelaide beach. Warning: Graphic images

Nathan Ness was bitten on a boat off West Beach today. Picture: 7NEWS

* WARNING: Graphic images *

A teenager has survived an extraordinary encounter with a great white shark that mauled his leg as he stood on the deck of the family boat.

Nathan Ness, 16, was fishing with his dad and two of his younger siblings when he reeled in a 1.8m shark only for it to bite him as he posed for a photo with his catch.

Quick-thinking dad Michael Ness, 46, recounted the terrifying moment he freed his son from the jaws of the shark on Sunday.

“He (Nathan) reached over, grabbed the tail and reeled it into the boat,” Mr Ness said.

“I went and grabbed some pliers to pull the hook out of its mouth.

“He then went to pick it up for a photo, and as he picked it up, it swung around and grabbed hold of his leg.”

The Urrbrae High School student shouted “Get it off, get it off” before his dad “reached down and pulled its mouth open and it let go”.

“I saw the shark latched on to him and I saw bits of fat squish out of his leg,” Mr Ness said. “It was horrible.”

Then Nathan “picked it up and dropped it into the ocean”.

The shark that bit the teen. Picture: Supplied

Nathan Ness ashore at West Beach. Picture: Supplied

“I started the boat and drove it back in while Nathan was on the phone to the ambulance,” Mr Ness said.

He said Nathan wrapped “some old school pants” across the two large cuts on his leg.

“I think he was in shock because it was a pretty big gash,” Mr Ness said.

The family was about 4km offshore at Glenelg Tyre Reef before racing to the West Beach boat ramp where they were met by emergency services at about 2pm.

Nathan was rushed to hospital, with an SA Ambulance spokeswoman confirming on Sunday night that the teenager had been bitten and was in a stable condition. He has since been discharged.

The family, including siblings Megan, 10 and Eric, 8, were five hours into their fishing trip when the emergency unfolded.

Megan said she was “pretty worried” when she spotted the shark.

Nathan Ness, 16, was bitten by a shark on a boat off West Beach on Sunday. Picture: Supplied

Michael Ness with his children Eric, and Megan at West Beach after Nathan was bitten. Picture: Brenton Edwards

“I’m glad I didn’t see the bone (of Nathan’s leg) but I was pretty terrified,” she said.

“I’m worried he’ll have to get lots of stitches.”

Eric, who said he “likes to go fishing a lot”, said he was shocked at the incident.

Mr Ness acknowledged how lucky his son was.

“It could’ve taken a big chunk of flesh with it,” he said.

“It was a very clean cut because it didn’t move its head and it was like two knives.”

But Nathan, a keen fisherman, who has been fishing since he was three years old, has not been deterred by his brush with the shark.

As he was being loaded into the back of the ambulance, he said “I hope I can still go out tomorrow”, according to Mr Ness.

“But we’re not going out tomorrow,” he said.

The Ness family has been going out on their boat to catch whiting, garfish and bronze whaler sharks – “because they’re good eating” – for over a decade.

Mr Ness said that earlier in the day they “had a shark before this one and it got off” one of their lines.

He said he “didn’t realise how dangerous it was” to bring the shark into the boat until one latched on to his son’s calf.

However, the bite will not stop them from fishing.

“We will be back on the water, but if we catch a white pointer again, we’ll get the hook out in the water,” Mr Ness said.

“We’ll be back in a couple weeks.”

Nathan’s mother, Joanne, was driving back from a scout camp with his two other younger brothers at the time of the incident.

“She just wanted to know where he was,” Mr Ness said.

Mr Ness does not blame the shark. “I’m happy it’s still alive and it’s back where it belongs,” he said.

“We pulled it on to the boat, so it was defending itself.

“I don’t feel angry at the shark.”

PIRSA’s director of fisheries operations, Benn Gramola, reminded fishers to be safe when catching shark.

“They are reminded the safest option is to cut the line at the closest point to the hook and where it is safest to do so, and do not try to remove it from the water,” he said.

This comes as PIRSA reported four shark sightings this month including a bronze whaler cruising not far from the shore at Aldinga Beach and Silver Sands Beach.