Great white shark
Emergency surgery overnight on shark attack victim Joe Hoffman is expected to save his right arm, after he was mauled by a white shark while surfing at Crescent Head on the NSW Mid North Coast on Monday.

The 25-year-old Sunshine Coast man suffered severe injuries to his right arm when he was attacked at Killick Beach. He was flown to John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle on Monday evening.

Mid North Coast police officer Inspector Martin Bourke said he was confident Mr Hoffman's arm would be saved thanks to the efforts of trauma doctors and nurses, who were on the beach at the time of the attack.

"For a terrible situation, it was almost the perfect storm in terms of the expertise on the ground," Inspector Bourke said.


He said doctors with trauma experience administered first aid using a "makeshift tourniquet" out of a surfboard leg rope.

"Those initial efforts of those people have certainly gone a long way to saving this young man and potentially saving his arm," he said.

Friends in disbelief

Hoffman family friend Phil Burke said Mr Hoffman was now part of an elite club, the Bite Club, that no surfer wanted to join.

"Apart from a broken arm or nasty scars, hopefully he'll pull through without too much of an issue," Mr Burke said.

"Wrong spot, wrong time."

The attack prompted Surf Lifesaving NSW to close Killick Beach and Crescent Head's main beach until further notice.

After initial investigations, the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) said it was believed Mr Hoffman was attacked by a white shark.

'Freak accident'

Carlene Sherwell, the head female surf coach and a co-owner of the Robbie Sherwell XL Surf School at Alexandra Headland, on the Sunshine Coast, said any incident where an experienced surfer was attacked by a shark, was a freak accident.

"I'm just grateful that he is hopefully still able to surf and is still with us today," she said.

"The one thing in regards to the ocean, it's a natural environment, it's their environment and we're the ones entering it.

"He would understand and respect [that]."

Surfer out despite warnings

Local duty officer at the Crescent Head Surf Life Saving Club Kim Rayner said beaches in the vicinity were being monitored by drones today.

She said despite the closures a surfer was out in the water this morning.

"We've tried to get him in," Ms Rayner said.

Beaches remain closed until further notice from Kempsey Shire Council.