By Anthony Segaert and Olivia Ireland
Port Macquarie surfer Toby Begg spent 30 seconds trying to fight off a four-metre white shark that bit him on the leg off a Mid North Coast beach on Friday morning.
The 44-year-old father was surfing about 150 metres off the shore of Lighthouse Beach, in Port Macquarie, about 10am on Friday when a shark bit his legs and lower body. He is in a critical condition after being airlifted to John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle.
Toby Begg was bitten by a shark at Lighthouse Beach in Port Macquarie on the NSW Mid North Coast on Friday morning.
Begg was forced to fight off the shark for half a minute before swimming ashore, said Chief Inspector Martin Burke, District Inspector for the Mid North Coast Police District.
“The reports are, the man has tried to fight this shark for up to 30 seconds and has then swum himself to shore, where he has realised that he’s sustained significant lower leg injuries,” he said.
Passers-by on the beach found sticks to create a makeshift tourniquet to stem major blood loss on the man’s legs, and were assisted by an off-duty emergency doctor who happened to be on the scene.
“Ambulance [crews] arrived shortly after, where the man was conveyed ... to Port Macquarie Hospital in a serious condition with life-threatening injuries,” Burke said.
Toby Begg’s surfboard was broken in two during the attack.Credit: Nine
Begg experienced “significant” blood loss following the bite and has injuries to his lower leg. Photographs from the scene obtained by Seven News show the bottom of a blue and white surfboard ripped off, with bite marks on the side.
The Department of Primary Industries, the state agency partly responsible for animal emergencies, advised police that, given the bite marks on the board, the shark in question was likely a white shark sized between 3.8 and 4.2 metres.
James Turnham, lifeguard co-ordinator from Surf Life Saving NSW, told the ABC the first response was the best the man could have received. “The word is that one of the surfers involved was either a doctor or [someone] highly skilled [and] trained in medical,” he said.
“I guess the guy so far has had the best response he could have had.”
Port Macquarie Hastings ALS Lifeguards posted on Facebook that Lighthouse Beach was closed “due to a shark incident”.
“The closure will likely remain in place for at least 24 hours,” they posted.
“A Surf Life Saving NSW drone will be operating to try to determine the size and species of the shark involved.
“We hope and pray for a good outcome for the victim involved.”
The incident at Lighthouse Beach pulls into focus the debate across the state about shark nets and SMART drumlines, after the Minns government this week decided to keep shark nets at many Sydney beaches.
Lighthouse Beach has two SMART drumlines – standing for Shark-Management-Alert-In-Real-Time – which consists of an anchor, two buoys and a satellite-linked GPS communications unit attached to a hook baited with one sea mullet.
The drumlines have a triggering magnet attached to the communications unit. When a shark takes the bait, the magnet is released that alerts the boat crew and Department of Primary Industries scientists, who respond within 30 minutes.
The SMART drumlines reported ten sharks at the beach between July 2021 and June 2022, including two other male white sharks.
Traditional shark nets, designed not to completely barricade the beach but deter sharks from visiting the site, have attracted significant controversy: over the past 12 months, more than 200 “non-target” species were caught in the nets.
“We’re looking closely at the emerging technology and I think it’s a good ambition to remove (nets) from popular city beaches,” Premier Chris Minns said earlier this week.
“But we’re not going to get rushed into it.”
The northern coast of NSW has had multiple shark attacks before. Japanese national Tadashi Nakahara, 41, died at Shelly Beach in February 2015 following what was believed to have been a white shark attack.
In November that year, champion junior surfer Sam Morgan underwent surgery after he was attacked by a bull shark at East Ballina.
Another surfer, Cooper Allen, was attacked by a shark at Lighthouse Beach in 2016, suffering deep wounds to his right upper thigh.
In August 2020, Chantelle Doyle suffered severe lacerations to her right leg from a shark attack at Shelly Beach at Port Macquarie. She was saved by her husband who jumped off his surfboard and onto the juvenile great white when it refused to release her.
Later that year in November 2020, a 13-year-old boy was bitten by a small shark at Town Beach.
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