Man dies after shark bite while fishing with family off Queensland coast

A man has died after he was bitten by a shark while fishing with his family.

Emergency services were called to Humpy Island in the Keppel Bay Islands national park, about 18km off the central Queensland coast, on Saturday following reports a man had been attacked.

The 40-year-old was bitten by the shark while fishing with family members in waters off Keppel Islands about 4.30pm, a Queensland Police spokesman said.

Despite efforts by paramedics to save his life, the man succumbed to his injuries just before 6pm.

Police will prepare a report for the coroner.

Experts say that as climate change warms water, shark encounters with people are potentially becoming a little bit more common.

There have been at least four other shark-related injuries in Australian waters in 2024, according to the Australian Shark Incident Database.

In early December a man in his 60s was bitten by a shark while spear fishing off Queensland’s Curtis Island. He was treated for lacerations to both arms.

In March a teenage girl was treated for minor injuries from a shark attack at Bargara beach near Bundaberg.

A woman suffered significant injuries to her leg from a shark bite while snorkelling in the ocean off Mackay in October, and another woman in her late 20s was bitten on the right leg by a suspected bull shark in Elizabeth Bay in Sydney Harbour in January.