OMG ------ "we are going to need a bigger boat"

Sydney shark attack: Andrew Lindop recovering well after surgery
Article from: AAP

March 02, 2009 05:43pm

* Andrew Lindop, 15, mauled by shark
* Recovering well after four hours of surgery
* Renewed warnings on dusk, dawn surfing

A TEENAGE surfer attacked by a shark off northern Sydney's Avalon Beach is in good spirits and joking from his hospital bed, his family says.

Andrew Lindop, 15, needed four hours of surgery on his left thigh after a shark, believed to be a great white 2m long, attacked him during an early morning surf with his father yesterday.

Surgeons at Royal North Shore Hospital are confident they have saved the boy's leg, but in the wake of the third Sydney shark attack in as many weeks, the New South Wales Government came under fire for failing to protect swimmers.

With swimmers and surfers largely avoiding Avalon and other beaches today, the NSW Opposition questioned the state of shark nets off the city's beaches.

"We have a situation that shark nets are deteriorating, the minister has not renewed the quota on catching sharks, and the time of the Westpac shark (aerial) patrol has been cut,'' Opposition industry spokesman Duncan Gay told ABC radio.

But NSW Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald said aerial surveillance was ineffective at dawn and dusk, when all three recent attacks occurred, as neither helicopters nor fixed-wing planes could spot the predators at those times.

"That's why the Government is focused on its shark meshing program, and resourcing our lifeguards with better equipment,'' Mr Macdonald said.

"There is no doubt the shark meshing program we have in place on 51 beaches from Newcastle to Wollongong is extremely successful, with only one fatal shark attack on a meshed beach in NSW since the program began in 1937.''

The shark net at Avalon had been checked the day before the attack and was fine, a spokesman for Mr Macdonald said.

The minister's office also said about 95 per cent of the Government's shark fishing quota consisted of harmless shark species, so increasing quotas would not prevent attacks.

"Great whites aren't included in it, they are protected,'' his spokesman said.

Today, 16-year-old Sarah Lindop said her brother was in good spirits after his surgery, with a hospital spokesman confirming he was now in a satisfactory condition in a general ward.

"He's been really, really brave,'' Sarah told the Seven Network.

"He's joking and stuff, he's in really good spirits.

"I don't know how much of all of this he'll remember, but he's doing really well.''

Sarah said her brother routinely went for a surf in the morning, often by himself, and was lucky his dad had gone with him yesterday.

Immediately after the attack, Mr Lindop dragged his son from the water and off-duty surf club members helped care for him until paramedics arrived.

"There's been a lot about (the danger of) going out really early and stuff but at the end of the day it's everyone's routine here, that's what the culture is,'' Sarah said.

The Environmental Protection Authority, which is analysing the bite, will release its findings within days, but it is expected to confirm a great white was the culprit.

Navy clearance diver Paul de Gelder lost a hand and a leg and was lucky to survive after being mauled by a 2.7-metre bull shark in Sydney Harbour on February 11.

Just a day later, 33-year-old surfer Glenn Orgias was attacked at Bondi Beach by a 2.5m great white that shook him and nearly severed his left hand.