Shark encounters plague New South Wales beaches

Great white shark. Photo / Thinkstock

A procession of sharks, including a close encounter at Newcastle, has continued to shut down beaches along the NSW coastline.

Manly Beach reopened on Sunday afternoon following a shark sighting, while Newcastle beaches remained closed for a record ninth consecutive day.

A shark, believed to be a five-metre great white, reportedly nudged a small fishing boat south of Newcastle at Swansea about 10.30am on Sunday.

"That's so scary, man," one fisherman said in video footage shared by Fairfax Media.

The shark circled the tinnie, swam underneath the fishermen and hit the boat with his fin.

"The boat rocks a solid two to three foot to the edge," Tim Watson, 24, told Fairfax Media.

"If it had hit much harder the boat would have taken in a bit of water."

The sea off Newcastle was first declared a no-go area when the great white, nicknamed Bruce, was seen at Merewether Beach on January 10.

A helicopter crew spent Sunday scouring the ocean for signs of the fearsome predator along with a three-and-a-half metre shark that lunched on a dolphin last week.

Surf Life Saving NSW said no decision on reopening the beaches would be made until Monday, while beach inspectors previously said they would only reopen beaches if the sharks were not spotted for at least 24 hours.

"You don't get a second chance with these things, (a) bite can be fatal," Nobbys Beach inspector Paul Bernard told AAP.

At Manly, many swimmers refused to be intimidated and remained in the sea on Sunday, according to Surf Life Saving NSW.

A member of the public had raised the alarm after spotting an unspecified type of shark while swimming at 1.30pm.

"We've got the inflatable rescue boats out to chase it away," a spokeswoman for Surf Life Saving NSW told AAP.

"The problem is there were already a lot of swimmers and surfers in the water who won't come out."

Shark attacks have also closed other NSW beaches in recent days.

Lifeguards were stopping people from going in the water at Port Kembla and Windang beaches near Wollongong on Sunday.

A Surf Life Saving NSW spokeswoman said this was due to a dead seal and injured shark that had both been attacked by what was believed to be a much larger shark.

And on Friday a 17-year-old boy was bitten on the hand by a 1.5 metre shark at Narrawallee Beach, about 200km south of Sydney.

Sam Smith was flown to hospital with lacerations after he tried to film the shark while spear-fishing.

Increased marine activity and warm weather are thought to be possible reasons for the sharks' prolonged presence.

CSIRO shark expert Barry Bruce, whose name has been used for the great white off Newcastle and for a character in the hit animated film Finding Nemo, said the creatures were common along the NSW coastline.

It's only when they stop near a heavily populated area, like Newcastle, that people notice them.

-AAP