The surfing community is praying for the speedy recovery of a talented young board rider who is in an induced coma after being mauled by a shark off the NSW far north coast.
Twenty-year-old Sam Morgan, who has a World Surf League junior ranking of 33, was on Wednesday morning in a serious but stable condition following surgery at a Gold Coast hospital.
Le-Ba Boardriders posted a message of support for their injured friend on the club's Facebook page.
"We are all thinking of you mate and praying that you will be OK," the post said.
"Praying for you Sammy and the rest of your family," Joe McDonald commented on the post.
"Oh Sam wishing u a speedy recovery mate," Jane Carr wrote.
Surfing NSW also posted messages of support on Facebook.
"Our thoughts are with you and the entire North Coast surfing community," it said.
Mr Morgan was attacked at Lighthouse Beach in East Ballina on Tuesday evening but managed to make it back to the beach, where others came to his aid.
He suffered serious wounds to his left thigh and was flown to the Gold Coast University Hospital where he underwent surgery on Tuesday night.
The Department of Primary Industries believes the shark was possibly a bull shark around 2.8 to 3.1 metres long.
At least 14 shark attacks have been recorded in NSW this year, including a serious attack on bodyboarder Mat Lee in July at the same beach and a fatality nearby, when Japanese surfer Tadashi Nakahara, 41, was killed at Shelly Beach on February 9.
Police have closed Lighthouse Beach for 24 hours.
Ballina Shire's Mayor David Wright wants the state government to implement more aerial patrols in the region but says solving the shark problem will take time.
"We need the state government to help us out with helicopter flight patrols, if we don't have many flights it means we aren't getting protected," Mr Wright told AAP on Wednesday.
"The state government has reacted to our problem by having the shark summit and implementing new technology, but the trouble is the rollover of that technology is going to take time."
He said the council had met with the DPI on Monday to discuss a shark netting trial to enclose all of Lighthouse Beach.
But more needs to be done, he said, to help solve the immediate problems.
"This is the fifth major attack in less than a few kilometres of beaches this year."
President of Le-Ba Boardriders, Don Munro, says Mr Morgan was very lucky to have escaped other injuries.
"While it's a very severe injury, it's one not as bad as say Mat Lee," Mr Munro told ABC TV on Wednesday.
"He's been a very lucky boy in the way the shark attacked, the bottom jaw hit the bottom of his surfboard instead of the top of his leg."
"I know Sam well enough to know he will get straight back on the bike and be out surfing again as soon as he's able."
Cr Wright said a shark expert had inspected Mr Morgan's board and was able to tell from the bite marks that it was a bull shark.
"We're going to have people in the water and we've got to make it as safe as possible," he told the ABC.
Mr Munro said now was the time for action.
"It's taken the minister and the premier, I think, quite a long time to really move on it," he told the broadcaster.
"They've talked about a lot of things now that they want to implement. Let's see it happen now."
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