Australian surfer punches shark but still mauled

A 52-year-old Australian surfer punched a shark that attacked him on Friday morning but was hospitalized after it still bit him on the hand, arms and leg.

New South Wales (NSW) police announced the victim was undergoing surgery in a local hospital near the town of Evans Head where he was attacked.

It was one of several shark attacks in the area in recent months as sharks follow giant migrating schools of bait fish which swim close to shore.

Officers said the man was one of two people surfing around 100 metres off shore.

Around 6:00 a.m.local time, Craig Ison spotted what he believed to be a shark and shouted out to the other surfer, also a man, to get out of the water.

"We were just paddling out, we hadn't even got to the stage of trying to catch a wave and he called out to me, 'Go in, there's a shark!'" his surfing partner Geoff Hill said on Friday.

"Next thing, the shark grabbed him."

"All I saw was a lot of thrashing in the water (and) a rather large tail."

Hill said Ison managed to get back on his board and they both paddled in to the beach to administer first aid.

"He was losing a fair bit of blood from his thigh and he had an injury on his hand from where he punched the shark," Hill said.

It was third shark attack in the area this month and there have been sightings of four to five meter sharks in the past two weeks.

All local beaches have been closed for 24 hours.

The attack came just over a week since Australian surfing champion Mick Fanning punched a shark in South Africa as it tried to attack him. Endi