The Minister for Primary Industries Niall Blair said on Wednesday that Lighthouse Beach, NSW will now have eco-barriers to keep sharks from attacking swimmers and surfers. The decision came following yet another shark attack on a 20-year-old man while he was surfing alone at the North Coast beach at around 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

Surfer Sam Morgan was bitten by a large bull shark in the left thigh. He managed to swim back to the beach where he was helped by beach goers. Paramedics arrived at the scene a while later and Morgan was airlifted to the hospital. He had to undergo surgery and was put in an induced coma at a hospital in the Gold Coast.

As many as 14 shark attacks have taken place along the same coastline this year, one of which resulted in the death of a 41-year-old Japanese man, Tadashi Nakahara.

The incident brought the state government directly under the spotlight for what has been described by the Lennox Head-Ballina surfing club as slow action in implementing shark-deterrent technology.

Blair said on Wednesday that the shark-meshing technology, which has been put through trial in Western Australia, will now be implemented at the Lighthouse Beach next summer.

"There were meetings, even as early as Monday this week, to look at the types of eco-barriers that we could put in at Lighthouse Beach," the ABC quoted Blair as saying.

The nylon barriers carve out a protected zone for swimmers by running from one shore to another and from the seabed to the surface of the water.

Experts, after examining the wound on Morgan’s left thigh, said it was most likely a bull shark that attacked him.

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