A teenage surfer has been taken to hospital with a suspected shark bite to his thigh after an attack at Lighthouse Beach in Ballina on Monday.
It appears to be the second attack at a beach fitted out with NSW Government's Department of Primary Industries 'Shark Smart' technologies including drones and aerial surveys.
Surf Life Saving NSW immediately closed all Ballina Shire beaches until further notice.
Paramedics arrived at the beach about 9am and said the surfer received treatment for a bite to his upper right thigh before being taken by ambulance to Hospital.
The Department of Primary Industries also confirmed a shark biologist was enroute to the scene.
Richmond LAC Chief Inspector Nicole Bruce told media it wasn't known which species of shark it was.
"There has been sightings of a great white four-metre shark further off the shore but no one actually saw which shark it was that's bitten him," Bruce said in Ballina.
About two hours after the surfer was bitten, department aerial patrols spotted a large great white shark and herded it out to sea.
A professional surfer was mauled by a shark at the North Coast surf spot in November while a Port Maquarie man was mauled in August last year.
It was also the site of a 2008 fatal attack where a 16-year-old boy was killed by a shark while bodyboarding.
A department spokesman told The Huffington Post Australia the area would now be set with non-lethal drum lines.
"DPI shark experts will deploy SMART drumlines in the area, now available as part of the NSW Government's $16m Shark Management Strategy," the spokesman said.
"Aerial surveillance is conducted every weekend and every day of every school holidays, weather permitting, from Point Danger to South Ballina, Lighthouse Beach included."
The spokesman said aerial surveillance did take place on Monday morning, and while there were "a number of potentially dangerous sharks spotted", none posed any threat to swimmers or surfers.
The department had also planned to install an eco-friendly shark net at the beach in August but after several unsuccessful attempts, the department considered it to be an unsafe exercise.