By Anthony Segaert and Caitlin Fitzsimmons
A husband and father has died after being mauled by a shark while surfing at Dee Why, on Sydney’s northern beaches.
Mercury Psillakis, 57, was surfing with friends about 100 metres from the sand at Long Reef Beach about 10am on Saturday when a large shark bit him and his surfboard, police said. His board was cut in two and he lost both legs.
Eyewitness Mark Morgenthal saw the attack and described the shark as “huge”.
“There was a guy screaming, ‘I don’t want to get bitten, I don’t want to get bitten, don’t bite me,’ and I saw the dorsal fin of the shark come up, and it was huge,” Morgenthal told Sky News.
“Then I saw the tail fin come up and start kicking, and the distance between the dorsal fin and the tail fin looked to be about four metres, so it actually looked like a six-metre shark.”
Police said Psillakis died in the water, and his body was brought to shore by other surfers.
Mercury Psillakis was a devoted husband and father.Credit: Facebook
Psillakis leaves behind a wife and young daughter, said Inspector Stuart Thomson, noting the attack occurred just the day before Father’s Day.
“It’s a terrible, terrible thing. It’s one of those freak accidents that happens very, very rarely,” he said.
Charles Prior, 33, was preparing to paddle out on his surfboard on Saturday morning when a swimmer warned him of a shark in the water.
“I thought, ‘oh whatever, there are always sharks in the water ... then someone said ‘don’t go out, a guy’s just been attacked’,” he told AAP.
Other surfers began paddling toward a black shape in the water, which Prior soon realised was the man’s body.
He and other surfers helped bring the man through waist-deep water to the shore.
Another surfer described seeing a “massive white” shark, up to six metres in length, he said.
“It (the shark) is obviously huge, given it just removed two legs pretty well clean and his left hand.”
The experienced surfer was well known locally, and was heavily involved in the area’s surfing fraternity. Distraught friends and family were seen at the beach after news of the attack spread on Saturday morning.
Dee Why shark attack victim Mercury Psillakis.Credit: Facebook
Friends described him as friendly, genuine and caring to others.
Fellow surfer Tim R Smith said the father-of-one was well loved and respected.
“I’m lost for words. He was the guy I would hang with and surf with him in Sydney, he glassed my boards and taught me a lot about surfboards and more importantly just how to be a good person in and out of the water.
“Big love to all the family and friends of Merc. You are such a loved man throughout,” he wrote.
Police remained on the scene, while Surf Life Saving NSW used drones to search for other sharks in the area. The Department of Primary Industries was working to determine the species of the shark.
All other beaches between Narrabeen and Manly were immediately closed after the incident, and are expected to reopen tomorrow.
In line with government protocols, Surf Life Saving Sydney Northern Beaches branch president Rod McGibbon said he expected Dee Why and Long Reef beaches to be closed for 48 to 72 hours.
Premier Chris Minns described the attack as an “awful tragedy”.
Police at the scene, where two pieces of surfboard were taken for further examination.Credit: James Brickwood
“My heart goes out to the victim’s family and friends. I also want to thank the first responders and community members who tried to help in such tough and confronting circumstances,” he said.
“Shark attacks are rare, but they leave a huge mark on everyone involved, particularly the close-knit surfing community.”
Shark attacks in Sydney are rare: before Saturday, only one death had been recorded from shark bites across the city’s beaches in 60 years. In 2022, Simon Nellist was killed at Little Bay, in Sydney’s east, by what authorities believed was a great white shark.
Shark nets were installed at Dee Why and 50 other beaches between Wollongong and Newcastle on Monday, the first day of spring.
A crowd watches on from a distance following the death at Dee Why on Saturday. Credit: Flavio Brancaleone
There has been only one previous death from a shark attack at a netted beach in NSW – at Merewether in Newcastle in 1951.
On average, there are one or two fatal shark attacks each year in NSW, according to the Australian Shark Incident Database. The low sample sizes mean there is statistically no difference in shark fatalities between netted and unnetted beaches.
Shark nets have been used since 1937. In recent years, they have been supplemented by modern technology such as SMART drumlines, shark listening stations and drone surveillance.
The nets are rectangles of mesh net about 150 metres long. They do not provide a barrier, and sharks swim over, under and around them.
They are controversial because they indiscriminately kill dolphins, turtles, critically endangered grey nurse sharks and other sea life.
Before this event, the NSW government was finalising plans with three councils – Waverley, Northern Beaches and Central Coast – to trial one beach in each local government area going net-free this summer. However, nets were still installed in all the usual places this summer.
With AAP
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clarification
An earlier version of this story implied Long Reef was a netted beach. It is not.