By Caitlin Fitzsimmons, Anthony Segaert and Olivia Ireland
Port Macquarie surfer Toby Begg is recovering in hospital after being bitten by a four-metre white shark, while the beach where it happened has reopened after a 24-hour closure.
Begg, a 44-year-old father, was surfing about 150 metres offshore on Friday morning when a shark bit his legs and lower body. He was taken to hospital in Port Macquarie and then airlifted by the Westpac Rescue Helicopter to Newcastle.
John Hunter Hospital confirmed he was in a serious but stable condition on Saturday morning. Nine News and other media reported Begg had a second surgery overnight.
A family member, Chris Lenihan, has started a fundraising page to collect money for Begg’s family, saying his “injuries are extremely serious and life changing”.
“Toby is my sister Tracy’s loving partner, and they have two beautiful children,” Lenihan posted on Facebook.
“He is a skilled builder, runs a business and is the family bread winner. It is very early stages and the full extent of his injuries are being uncovered, however, he will require many surgeries and has years of rehabilitation ahead of him.”
Begg’s former colleagues at the local fire service also posted a tribute and fundraiser on Facebook for the former on-call firefighter.
James Turnham, the Mid North Coast lifeguard co-ordinator with the Australian Lifeguard Service, said Lighthouse Beach reopened on Saturday morning after a drone flight confirmed there was no further shark activity.
Chief Inspector Martin Burke said on Friday that Begg was forced to fight off the shark for half a minute before swimming ashore.
“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.
Toby Begg was bitten by a shark at Lighthouse Beach in Port Macquarie on the NSW Mid North Coast on Friday morning.
Passers-by on the beach found sticks to use in a makeshift tourniquet to stem major blood loss on Begg’s legs, and were assisted by an off-duty emergency doctor who happened to be on the scene.
Begg experienced “significant” blood loss following the bite. Images from the scene 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.
Toby Begg’s surfboard was broken in two during the attack.Credit: Nine
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.
Toby Begg was flown to John Hunter Hospital for surgery.
The SMART drumlines reported 10 sharks at the beach between July 2021 and June 2022, including two other male white sharks.
Traditional shark nets, designed not to barricade the beach but to deter sharks from visiting the site, have attracted significant controversy for killing other sea life.
Premier Chris Minns said earlier this week he was looking at emerging technology and would like to remove traditional shark nets from city beaches, but was “not going to get rushed into it”.
The Mid North Coast has had multiple shark attacks before, including at Lighthouse Beach, Shelly Beach and Town Beach in Port Macquarie.
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