A 17-year-old surfer, who once rejected the need for shark nets, is in hospital after being bitten on the upper thigh while surfing at Lighthouse Beach at Ballina, on the New South Wales far north coast.

Richmond Police Inspector Nicole Bruce said the victim, named as Cooper Allen, was attacked by a shark about 9:00am.

A shark eco-barrier trial at Lighthouse Beach was scrapped in August due to ongoing rough conditions.

The trial was announced last year as part of a $16 million State Government package in response to a spate of shark attacks in the region.

This is the fourth serious shark attack along the one–kilometre stretch of beach in less than two years.

Cooper was treated at the scene for his injuries before being taken to Lismore Base Hospital.

Surf Life Saving NSW lifeguards on jet skis chased the shark away from the shore after the attack.

“[The victim] received lacerations and bite marks to his upper-thigh area, he was assisted into the shore and off-duty nurses treated him,” Inspector Bruce said.

“We’ve got the surfboard and the bite marks will be analysed by the DPI [the Department of Primary Industries].

Ballina beaches have been shut. Photo: Getty

“The beaches in all of the Ballina Shire have been shut for 24 hours and there’s currently a helicopter on the way to do aerial surveillance.”

Inspector Bruce said it was not known if a great white was responsible because no-one saw the shark during the attack.

“There has been [a] sighting of a great white, a four-metre shark, further off the shore but no one actually saw which shark it was that’s bitten him,” she said.

Inspector Bruce said Cooper was helped back to shore by his friend who he was surfing with and his injuries were not life-threatening.

“But obviously, with a shark wound, they’re always quite severe,” she said.

Aerial photo of the shark that is believed to have attacked a Ballina teenager on Monday. Photo: SharkSmart/ABC

The boys were surfing just past the break at the beach.

“You can never be in the clear, I suppose, it’s just one of those things, you share the water with them, it could happen any day, anywhere,” Inspector Bruce said.

Cooper told News Corp earlier this year he thought the barriers were a waste of money and surfers risked shark attacks whenever they went into the water.

He and fellow surfer, Romain Decelle, were interviewed following the death of Tadashi Nakahara, a friend of theirs, who was killed in a shark attack on the same beach.

Mr Dacelle said the barriers would not work to protect them.

Lighthouse Beach is closed after a shark attack on a surfer. Photo: ABC

‘Prime attack was on the board’

President of the Ballina Lighthouse and Lismore Surf Lifesaving club Craig Nolan said the incident was close to the North Wall.

“Apparently the prime attack was on the board, so it took the brunt,” he said.

“The reports we have are that it was a great white, around the three-metre mark.

“It’s unfortunate timing, we were trying to get our members back into the water.”

Life savers on Lighthouse Beach, Ballina. Photo: ABC

He said the club had two jet skis in the water undertaking a patrol to identify the shark that attacked the teen, who was a member of the surf club.

“The beaches are now closed … we’re patrolling between South Ballina and Sharps Beach advising everyone to get out of the water,” he said.

Ballina Mayor David Wright said he felt sick in the stomach over the attack.

“I was going to do an interview at 10:00am about sharks with someone doing a study on them but I didn’t think there’d be an attack taking place.

“Hopefully the young surfer will be OK but his mates will need someone to talk to.

“It’s not an experience people would like to go through, I also feel for the surf lifesavers, they only raised the flags on Saturday.”

He said he hoped the attack would not impact on tourism and called for a 4G shark listening station to be installed at the beach.

“We’ll also be asking for the towers to give that warning and it will come up on the [listening station] it will flash on the headlands.”