The family of Tasmanian shark attack victim, Damian Johnson are still coming to terms with a man described as a “great bloke, devoted husband [and a] great father”.

Mr Johnson was killed by a shark, believed to be a great white, while diving for scallops with his daughter, aged in her 20s, off Maria Island, north of Hobart.

The pair were diving from an aluminium boat at about 8:00am on Saturday when he did not resurface from a dive.

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His daughter became worried and went down into the water to check on her father and saw him being attacked by the shark.

She swam back to the surface and set off a flare which alerted nearby boaters who went to great lengths to try to save Mr Johnson but he died of his injuries.

Mr Johnson’s brother-in-law Andrew Paynter said the family was devastated.

“Obviously everyone’s still in a substantial amount of shock so [we are] just coming to terms with the reality of it really,” Mr Paynter said.

The victim’s boat is tied to the jetty while police talk to the boaters who went to his assistance. Photo: ABC

“[He was] just a great bloke, devoted husband, great father, just a great friend to all those who knew him.”

He said Damian Johnson’s daughter who witnessed the attack was coping with her ordeal.

“She’s a really tough lady… she’s doing a remarkable job under, as I’m sure you can appreciate, some really really trying circumstances,” he said.

Mr Paynter said his brother-in-law would not want people to be put off from diving.

“He certainly wouldn’t be put off by it I’m sure,” he said.

“If it was not him, he’d be back in the water at the next available opportunity.”

Recreational fishermen want better alert system

Recreational fishermen are calling for a better system to alert them to the presence of sharks after the attack.

There had been numerous sightings of a similarly sized shark in the week before the attack, which occurred between Lachlan Island and Maria Island.

Two scallop divers had a near miss with a shark matching the description in the same area less than 24 hours before the attack.

The president of RecFish Tasmania, Don Paton, said issuing a warning over VHF radio was the most efficient way of reporting the location of large sharks.

“However in a lot of these nursery areas, especially where recreational scallop fishermen dive for scallops, they’re not required to have a radio in their boat so VHF radio communications in some cases would not be adequate,” Mr Paton said.

He said the attack was a great tragedy “especially [for] the young lass that witnessed the death of her dad and [we] give our thanks to the marine police and for the volunteer recreational fishermen – it must have been a traumatic time for them to come to her aid on this matter.”

Great white ‘cruised past’ diver less than 24 hours earlier

Glamorgan Spring Bay Mayor Michael Kent said the area was not known for sharks but a “15 foot [4.5 metre]” animal had been spotted in the area a number of times in the past week.

“There’s been a so-called white pointer seen a couple of times over the last week out and about but [there is] not particularly a lot of sharks in and around that particular area,” Mr Kent said.

“I don’t know how long the shark’s been in the area.

“I’ve been told about a week.”

There were a number of people diving for scallops in the area at the time of the attack. Photo: ABC

Two divers who had an encounter with a big shark in the same area on Friday said their hearts go out to the dead man’s family.

Danny Smith and Wade Cleary were diving for scallops off Maria Island on Friday afternoon.

Mr Smith said he watched as a large shark hit Mr Cleary from behind and they managed to escape to their boat.

Mr Cleary said it was like being hit by a bus but believed the shark had no intention of biting him.

“It just sort of cruised past to see what I was,” he said.

“I thought me mates were pulling me a bit hard and it seemed a bit strange that they might want to go home and then my air line went slack from where they [were] drifting, that’s when I got hit from

behind and rolled and when I went under that’s when I actually seen the shark,” he said.

The men reported the incident to authorities yesterday morning, about the same time the fatal attack took place.

Mr Smith said they both felt very emotional when they heard the news.

“My heart goes out to the family, there’s no doubt about that, I’m asking myself all the time is there more that we could have done to prevent this gentleman from being taken,” he said.

“It’s hard to describe how the emotions are at the minute.”

-ABC