Beaches in Sydney’s south-east have been closed after a woman was bitten by a great white shark, which is believed to have been more than three metres long.



Late on Friday, the 55-year-old swimmer survived the first shark attack in Botany Bay in at least 25 years, and is recovering at St George hospital.

The Hurstville local was doing laps at Little Congwong Beach about 7pm when she was bitten by the juvenile predator, which experts believe measured between 2.7m and 3.2m.



Randwick City Council said the woman was helped to shore where paramedics treated “serious wounds” on her leg, but she was in a stable condition.

The mayor Lindsay Shurey said the woman underwent surgery on Saturday morning for a “very large bite” below her right knee.

“I think she’s very lucky to still have her leg ... and to survive,” Shurey said. “I’ve lived in this area for 35 years and we have no knowledge of anything like this before ... we’re all a little shocked and concerned.”

Dr Vic Peddemors reckons the young shark was hunting alternative food sources in the bay, Photograph: Lucy Hughes Jones/AAP

Lifeguards have since closed the La Perouse beach, along with the surrounding Congwong, Frenchmans and Yarra beaches, for at least 24 hours.

“Council lifeguards will be stationed at the usually unpatrolled beaches on Saturday to advise swimmers not to swim,” Shurey said.

A Department of Primary Industries shark biologist, who examined photographs of the woman’s injuries, said he’d “be surprised if she had any severe damage”.

Dr Vic Peddemors said it was “an unusual event” and reckons the young shark, which normally feeds on fish, was hunting alternative food sources in the bay.

“As they get larger they start including turtles and marine mammals like dolphins and seals in their diet,” he said.

“Obviously there’s no mother to tell them what to eat and what not to eat, so they are exploring to see whether larger objects are edible.”

He said bigger creatures such as great whites, bull sharks and tiger sharks occasionally entered the sprawling Botany Bay estuarine system, but added that nets did not need to be installed because of one extremely rare attack.

Dawn and dusk are higher shark-risk periods for bathers, and Peddemors advised people to steer clear of the ocean during those times.