Nick Slater “pretty much passed away” in the water after the first shark attack on the Gold Coast since the 1950s, causing half the area’s beaches to close.

September 9, 2020

A Gold Coast surfer was in a “bad way” and looked like he had died before he had left the water after an attack by “an obvious white pointer”, one of his rescuers says.

Local man Nick Slater was dragged from the water by fellow surfers and lifeguards at Greenmount Beach at Coolangatta early Tuesday evening.

The 46-year-old real estate agent suffered serious leg injuries and was pronounced dead by paramedics at the scene minutes after they arrived.

Fellow surfer Jade Parker was getting ready to hit the water when he spotted Mr Slater floating motionless next to his board in the line-up.

He waded in to help other surfers and lifeguards bringing Mr Slater in.

Mr Parker found a 4cm tooth lodged in Mr Slater’s board, which he said was from “an obvious white pointer”.

“It was a good size bite to the board,” he told Seven Network on Wednesday.

“I do not want to get to the gory parts but he was in a bad way. He was not conscious. It looked like he had already pretty much passed away at that point in time.”

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said Mr Parker and the other surfers and lifeguards who went to help Mr Slater were heroes.

“The courage to run into the surf moments after a shark attack is beyond admirable and I think are worthy for nomination for bravery awards,” she told parliament on Wednesday morning.

A large tiger shark had since been found in nets off Greenmount Beach.

“Further investigations will be conducted to discover if there is any link between it and the fatal attack,” the premier said while offering her condolences to Mr Slater’s family and friends.

‎Griffith University shark ecologist Johan Gustafson said sharks often follow prey, such as fish, closer shore and it was likely to be a random attack.

“We are (also) in the elusive white shark season because the waters are still cool,” he told AAP.

Dr Gustafson said sharks were curious animals that sometimes took test bites of objects, which could have devastating effects on humans because the bite pressure was so great.

Earlier, Gold Coast locals and visitors were urged to stay out for the water while lifeguards on jet skis and helicopters searched for the shark.

Beaches remain officially closed to swimmers from the NSW border to Burleigh Heads, an area about 20km long.

However, about a dozen surfers were back in the water at the beach on Wednesday morning.

It was the first fatal shark attack on the Gold Coast since a swimmer was killed at Surfers Paradise in 1958.

Greenmount Beach is one of several on the Gold Coast that has a shark net. It also has eight drum lines.

Fisheries Minister Mark Furner said they were regularly checked and the government remained committed to the state’s shark control program at 86 beaches from the Gold Coast to Cairns.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate said the attack could damage the region’s COVID-19-ravaged tourism industry and urged people wanting to swim to do so north of Burleigh.

“It brings to reality, when we go off the land we go into the water, it is the shark’s domain. The danger’s there,” he told Nine News.

Mr Slater’s death is the second fatal shark attack in Queensland in little more than two months after 36-year-old Matthew Tratt died while spearfishing off Fraser Island in early July.

In June, Gold Coast surfer Rob Pedretti, 60, died after he was mauled by a three-metre white shark at Salt Beach at South Kingscliff in northern NSW.