Surf lifesavers on jetskis are combing the waters in northern NSW to find the shark that mauled a bodyboarder, leaving him fighting for his life.
The search comes as media organisations tweeted photos of what appears to be a large shark reportedly spotted near the scene of the attack.
A 32-year-old local man is critically injured in Gold Coast Hospital after being pulled from the water at Lighthouse Beach in Ballina this morning, suffering serious injuries to his lower legs.
He was with two mates at the beach at around 10am when he was bitten.
Emergency services attended to him on the scene and he was airlifted to hospital in a critical condition.
The owner of Lighthouse Beach Cafe said locals banded together to help the man.
"I looked down the beach, saw them working on a bloke, it was all hell ... there's lots of people down here," she told AAP.
All beaches within Ballina Shire will be closed for the next 24 hours. Boats, jetskis and helicopters are searching for the shark.
The attack comes the day before Friday's Oz Grom Surfing Competition, where 270 young competitors from the region are set to compete.
Ballina Mayor David Wright said the council will meet later on Thursday with Surf Lifesaving NSW and police about whether the beaches will have to remain closed and what impact that will have on the surf carnival.
"We're not sure but we're going to try and have it... because it's the biggest junior carnival in Australia," he told AAP.
"But it's too soon to make a call."
There have been two fatal attacks in the area the past seven years.
In 2008 a 16-year-old surfer was fatally attacked by a shark while bodyboarding at Lighthouse Beach.
In February, a large great white shark tore the legs off 41-year-old surfer, Tadashi Nakaharaa, in a fatal attack at the neighbouring Shelly Beach.
