73-Year-Old Fisherman Unafraid To Go Back To Waters Even After Shark Attack

What’s scarier than sailing alone in the middle of the sea when a Great White Shark emerges from the water, knocks you down and its size eats up half your boat? Apparently, 73-year-old Terry Selwood isn’t all that afraid– even after experiencing it for himself first hand.

Great White Shark in Evans Head lurches itself unto Boat

The waters were quiet as he sailed offshore in the gorgeous town of Evans Head, New South Wales. Terry said he was fishing calmly with his fishing line straight under the boat. He then spotted something blurry swimming his way. Before feeling a sense of alarm, a 2.7-meter long Great White Shark weighing about 200 kilos emerged from the blue waters and slapped his forearm knocking him on the ground.

“There I was on all fours and he’s looking at me and I’m looking at him and then he started to do the dance around and shake and I couldn’t get out quick enough onto the gunnel,” Terry told ABC News.

The boat was 4.5 meters long, and 1.4 meters in width– not the widest boat to fit a Great White and a fisherman.

Sharks have scaly and stiff skin, and as it wiggled and danced, the skin on Terry’s arm tore off. As soon as he could move freely, he reached for his radio and dialed the local Marine Rescue Volunteers at Evans Head. Soon, the crew came in to the rescue.

It wasn’t unnatural that there were sharks swimming on the North Coast, but Terry says there was absolutely no reason for the shark’s sudden breach.

The Department of Primary Industries used a forklift to remove the Shark and brought it to the Wollongbar Office for observation. Soon it will confirm its age and gender.

According to the Shark Research Institute, New South Wales has had a 10-year moving average of 0.5 percent of Fatal Shark Attacks in 2015– an increase of 0.3 percent in the year 2000s.

Terry had been fishing for about 60 years and with all the shark interactions he’s experienced, he had never had such a close, eye-to-eye moment with a shark. Despite the out-of-the-blue mayhem though, this fisherman says only a bigger sea creature would scare him off the waters. “It won’t deter me from fishing, no way in the world,” he said.