Four great white sharks have been captured at a beach a day after where a surfer was mauled to death.
The surfer in his 50s was fatally mauled by a 4.5m great white shark off Tuncurry Beach near Forster on the NSW mid-north coast, about 300 km north of Sydney.
He was desperately warning friends of the danger when he was attacked.
Authorities on Wednesday morning caught a shark on a drum line off the beach, but it is not believed to be the same predator that was spotted by a drone following Tuesday’s attack.
NSW Department of Primary Industries spokesperson said four white sharks were caught, tagged and released on Wednesday morning off Tuncurry Beach and nearby Forster Main Beach.
All of the sharks reeled in on Wednesday were different lengths to the one involved in Tuesday’s attack.
The white sharks captured at Main Beach were both 2.5m, while those at Tuncurry Beach were 2.3m and 2.45m.
Drum lines had been dropped into the water by government workers in an attempt to hook the sharks.
The lines are non-lethal traps used to lure and capture sharks using baited hooks, allowing authorities to move sharks away from popular beaches without using deadly force.
Tuesday’s mauling is the first confirmed fatal shark attack in Australian waters this year. Emergency crews were called to the beach, just north of Forster, after the man was bitten while surfing.
Police said the man spotted the shark before it latched on, leaving him with horrific injuries to his upper thigh.
‘When the attack occurred the man did actually see the shark and called out to try and warn others’ Superintendent Christopher Schilt told reporters.
‘Very heroically his friends were able to bring him back into shore after he had been attacked.’
Despite the efforts to revive the man, he died on the shore.
Locals believe Tuesday’s incident at Tuncurry beach was likely caused by a well-known great white known as ‘Bruce’.