Gold Coast Surfer Hooked On Shark Drum Line During Mini Cyclone

Shark drum lines, first introduced on the Gold Coast in 1962, were supposed to be a quick fix for a long-standing problem: sharks too close to shore. Baited hooks, strung along the coast, designed to snare and immobilise anything big enough to threaten a beach day. Simple. Effective.

Except… the drum lines didn’t just catch sharks. They caught anything that happened to swim too close. Turtles. Dolphins. Even the odd whale. What was pitched as a safety measure turned into an ecological mess, with cries of “outdated” and “inhumane” getting louder. 

Still, with the string of shark attacks on the northern NSW coast over the past few years — basically the same stretch of coast as the Gold Coast, just split by a map line — and the low body count on the Gold Coast (except for that Snapper incident), maybe they’re getting something right. 

Whatever your take, it’s safe to say their unintended catch has never included humans.

Until now, that is. Wild scenes unfolded on the Gold Coast this week, where a surfer, caught in a mini cyclone, was blown out to sea. A lone dot, drifting further from shore, paddling like hell but making no headway. Turns out, he wasn’t just stuck because of the wind. The shark drum line had him. Hooked straight through the leg.

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Initially, 9 News reported the surfer had been blown out to sea by the cyclone. Later, they cleaned up their story, saying, “I have spoken with emergency services who confirm the 69-year-old man was blown into the shark drum line, where he was actually severed on the leg by the hook.”

The surfer eventually makes it back to shore, visibly exhausted, with his board drifting behind him like an afterthought. He was taken to the hospital for treatment but has since been released and is recovering.