Terry Selwood, 73, was fishing offshore at Evans Head on the New South Wales north coast over the weekend when a Great White Shark launched itself into his boat, causing the elderly fisherman to have to scramble for his life.
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"I caught a blur of something coming over the boat … and the pectoral fin of the shark hit me on the forearm and knocked me down on the ground to my hands and knees," Mr Selwood told the ABC. "He came right over the top of the motor and then dropped onto the floor. He was 2.7 metres long and about 200 kilos."
The boat measured 1.4 metres across and 4.5 metres long - a tight squeeze for a man and a shark. "There I was on all fours and he's looking at me and I'm looking at him and then he started to do the dance around and shake and I couldn't get out quick enough onto the gunnel," Mr Selwood said.
"I was losing a fair amount of blood, I was stunned, I couldn't register what happened and then I thought oh my God, I've got to get out of here." Mr Selwood reached for his radio and called the local marine rescue volunteers at Evans Head.
Marine Rescue Unit commander Karen Brown said a crew was sent out to rescue Mr Selwood and then went back out a second time to retrieve the fisherman's boat and the shark. He must have come up four feet out of the water”. Mr Selwood said the conditions on Saturday afternoon when the incident happened were smooth, and there was no surface fish or clear reason why the shark would breach.
OTHER NEWS:
SHARK NET TRIAL TO END EARLY
NSW Minister for Primary Industries, Niall Blair announced on Monday that the NSW Government will begin removing all five nets from the North Coast Shark Net Trial. The trial nets at Ballina to Lennox Head and also at Evans Head Beach have been in the water for almost six months.
Mr Blair said the decision to end the trial two weeks earlier than anticipated, follows an increase in whale sightings along the NSW coastline. “While we are ending the trial slightly earlier, we now have almost six months’ worth of data for our shark scientists to analyse.”
“This week, DPI will also begin deploying an additional 10 SMART drumlines, bringing the total number of SMART drumlines to 35 on the North Coast. Helicopters will continue to operate every weekend on the North Coast and daily flights and drones will re-commence during the July school holidays.
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