Shark attack: Gold Coast in shock as real estate agent Nick Slater mauled while surfing

Nick Slater, 46, was killed by a shark while surfing on the Gold Coast. Photo / Twitter, Nine News

The Gold Coast community is reeling after the shock shark attack that left a successful local real estate agent dead.

Nick Slater, 46, was surfing off Greenmount Beach when he was killed in the Gold Coast's first fatal shark attack since 1958.

Despite the frantic efforts of surfers, lifesavers and paramedics, he died within minutes, all captured on the Coastalwatch surf cameras.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate said regardless of how long had passed between the fatalities, it was still a tragedy.

"It doesn't matter how long it's been, it's still a devastating shock to the Gold Coast community," he said in a media conference.

A colleague of Slater's at London Estate Agent's told NCANewsWire he was too shocked to say anything.

Brisbane's Tim Follett told the Courier Mail he had been walking around the idyllic Greenmount headland when he saw the chaos unfold.

A beach on the Gold Coast has been rocked by the first fatal shark attack off the coast in 60 years. @JessMillward9 #9News pic.twitter.com/65uFGcnovH

— 9News Australia (@9NewsAUS) September 8, 2020

"It was like the whole beach just froze. There was a lady screaming, it was horrible," he said.

Lifeguards are today patrolling the water via jet ski and the Westpac helicopter is in the air as beaches remain closed between Burleigh Heads and the New South Wales border.

Tate said the strip of coast would remain that way for the foreseeable future.

"Once we know the shark is not in the vicinity or we have tracked it, then the beach will be reopened," he said.

"We need to know that before we make our next move."

Jade Parker tried to save his fellow surfer. Speaking on Channel 7's Sunrise he said he had retrieved the board, finding the tooth still lodged in the board's fibreglass.

"The tooth had snapped off in the board itself," he said.

"It was obvious it was a white pointer."

The surfer who died in a shark attack on the Gold Coast has been identified as real estate agent Nick Slater. The 46-year-old was dragged from the water by fellow surfers and lifeguards at Greenmount Beach at Coolangatta yesterday. #7NEWShttps://t.co/1nSitLPVk8

— 7NEWS Australia (@7NewsAustralia) September 8, 2020

It's the first fatal shark attack on a Gold Coast beach since the shark net program was introduced in the 1960s, and comes just three months after Tugun surfer Rob Pedretti was attacked off the Tweed Coast.

Tate said a 60-year gap between the incidents had been "pretty good", considering the 70km stretch of coastline on the Gold Coast.

"A lot of my friends are surfers, they tell you a lot of stories about close calls," he said.

"We'll take a deep breath, and analyse the best solution available.

"Until I really see what is the reasoning on this attack I can't assess the situation any further.

"Maybe there's better solutions and we'll look at that."