Girl, 12, bitten in second Whitsunday Island shark attack in 24 hours

Baited drumlines will be rolled out after a second shark attack in 24 hours at a popular north Queensland harbour left a 12-year-old girl in a critical condition.

The girl, reported to be on holiday with her father and sister, suffered a "significant leg injury" when she was attacked near Cid Harbour, off Whitsunday Island, about 1.40pm on Thursday.

The girl was brought to a beach near Cid Harbour by the water police and loaded onto the RACQ CQ Rescue helicopter.Credit: RACQ CQ Rescue

'It is horrific ... for us as paramedics'

Queensland Ambulance Service operations manager Tracey Eastwick said the girl lost a significant amount of blood after she was bitten.

"It is horrific ... for us as a community of paramedics it is quite confronting to have two similar incidents in the space of less than 24 hours," she told reporters in Mackay.

"In north Queensland, shark attacks are not that common."

The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries would send a contractor to the Whitsundays on Friday to roll out three shark control drumlines, fitted with bait hooks.

The 12-year-old girl arrives at Mackay Base Hospital.Credit: Olivia Grace-Curran - Nine News Queensland

Before Wednesday, the most recent attack in the area was eight years ago.

QAS Rockhampton operations centre manager Mindy Thomas described the attacks as "confronting".

She said two paramedics and a doctor responded to the more recent attack with the RACQ CQ Rescue helicopter, which landed on a nearby beach by 2.50pm.

Ms Thomas said the water police vessel ferried the girl from the boat she was on to Whitsunday Island so she could be loaded into the waiting helicopter.

She had "fairly large wounds" on her thigh and suffered significant blood loss but did not lose consciousness.

The girl was given pain relief and three pints of blood on the flight to hospital. A trauma team was waiting on her arrival.

"The first aid that was provided both yesterday and today has contributed to saving [both victims'] lives at this point in time," Ms Thomas said.

Fisheries tells people not to swim

Sea World marine services director Trevor Long told reporters shark attacks were "very unlucky and extremely unfortunate" in the "relatively safe" Whitsundays.

"This is a tropical area. There’s probably four species that could be involved in it, probably the worst of those species would be a tiger shark," he said.

The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries said a Queensland Boating and Fisheries boat arrived at the scene on Thursday afternoon and asked people not to swim in the area.

"Fisheries Queensland has organised for the Queensland Shark Control Program contractor based at Mackay to deploy three shark control drumlines in the area tomorrow morning," the DAF statement said on Thursday.

"Fisheries is working with other agencies including the police and marine parks."

The measures aim to reduce the overall number of sharks in the area, but do not provide an impenetrable barrier between swimmers and marine life.

Fisheries Minister Mark Furner said fisheries officers and water police boats were patrolling the area a few hours after the attack.

“Shark attacks in these waters are rare. That’s why these events are so shocking."

- with Luke Sayer and AAP