Man who called himself ‘shark bait’ is attacked by shark, family says

A man who called himself “shark bait” was mauled in the leg by a shark while surfing off the coast of New South Wales in Australia on Saturday, his father said, according to 9 News.

“He says he’s ‘shark bait’, but he’s prepared to take the risk and he does,” said Rob Mason, father of the 36-year-old father and surfer Joel Mason, according to the station.

Mason was surfing Saturday morning at Nambucca Heads, a beach on the far east side of Australia, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

He was about to catch a wave when a group of dolphins entered the area, a witness said, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

“He just disappeared,” a witness said, according to the station. “I saw him out there and was watching the pod of dolphins and the waves and my dogs and then just lost sight of him. I thought he couldn’t have come in that quick.”

Mason had been bitten badly on the leg by a shark, but was able to swim to a rocky wave barrier where other beachgoers spotted him in distress and signaled for help, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

An off-duty lifeguard took Mason’s surf rope and used it as a tourniquet to control the bleeding until emergency workers arrived, 9 News reported.

“He was extremely calm, he was extremely stoic I thought,” Ambulance NSW spokesman Steve Fraser said, according to the station. “He was helping us as much as he possibly could, an amazing young man.”

He had lost a lot of blood, and the air ambulance that was flying him to the hospital needed to make a detour to collect more blood transfusion equipment, according to the Australian. He went into surgery and was in serious but stable condition the next day, according to the paper.

Mason’s father said he expected his son to be back on the water soon.

“He may not go surfing by himself as often (after the attack) but I figure he still will,” Mason’s father said, according to 9 News.

Officials closed the beach and said they were still unsure what type of shark had attacked Mason, according to the ABC.

“It’s possible mistaken identity, there (were) fish around at the time, and dolphins around,” said Richard Ellis, who had been bitten by a shark in the same area years ago, according to the network. “But there’s still some randomness to it, it was a different time of year and different circumstance altogether, so the commonality is that people still go surfing out at these places regardless.”