Child grabbed and dragged underwater by giant fish at Far Northern jetty

Forget stingers, crocs and sharks. Swimmers are now on high alert for this aquatic creature after a child was attacked at a Far Northern jetty.

• Grouper feeding time has Cooktown visitors in a frenzy
• Head-on near miss on PDR triggers dust warning

SWIMMERS have been alerted to a potential danger lurking in remote tropical waters after a child was attacked by a north Queensland groper at Cape York.

On Thursday, the Northern Area Peninsula Council erected warning signs at the Seisia wharf, 400km north of Weipa, after a fish measuring more than 1m bit a young boy.

Fishing is a popular past time at the Seisia wharf where a child was attacked by a grouper last week. Picture: MICHAEL NAMOCK

Mayor Eddie Newman said the 10-year-old was grabbed and dragged under by the groper - also known as a Queensland grouper - who was a well-known jetty inhabitant.

“(But) this is the first time (it has attacked) and with the school holidays and kids jumping off the wharf and they (the kids) are actually swimming under the wharf, which is a new one of us,” he said.

“From talking to the mother he dragged him under and let him go. He was very lucky.”

Cr Newman said the boy was taken to hospital suffering shock and lacerations to his body.

“It was a lucky escape. It was a wake-up call for (the Department of Transport and Main Roads) and the Port Authority.”

A Queensland grouper weighing 120kgs and thought to be more than 40-years-old lines up for a feed at the Cook's landing Kiosk in Cooktown.

Former commercial fisherman Thomas Anderson has been feeding large Queensland groupers at the Cooktown jetty for more than four years.

He said it was uncommon for people to be bitten by the creatures - that could grow to 2 metres long and weigh more than 600kgs - but it did happen.

“I know of a gentleman who was up in the Princess Charlotte Bay, 20 years ago. He decided to jump over the side and scrub the hull of the boat,” he said.

“And the next minute he was grabbed around the waist. It pulled him down and then let him go and he ended up with no jocks and no fins but a whole lot of little marks on his body.”

Warning signs erected at the Seisia wharf on Thursday after a child was attacked by a grouper. Picture: MICHAEL NAMOCK

Mr Anderson said he was not aware of any fatalities caused by a grouper attack.

“But if a four or five-year-old was to fall off the main wharf at Cooktown you may have a problem if there is a grouper there,” he said.

He said he had heard there was a resident grouper living at the Seisia wharf but was more familiar with the mammoth beast that inhabited waters around the Broome jetty.

“I think he would eat you just for fun,” he said.

The Seisia wharf 1000kms north west of Cairns. Picture: MICHAEL NAMOCK

Council has erected temporary signage to alert swimmers to the risk at the Seisia wharf and permanent warning signs had been ordered.

However Cr Newman said it was not clear which agency was responsible for the safety of swimmers at the Seisia wharf.

Originally published as Child grabbed and dragged underwater by giant fish at Far Northern jetty