Fisherman bitten by shark he hooked on Great Barrier Reef

A fisherman was bitten by a shark that he had hooked and was attempting to haul on to his boat on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, an ambulance official said Tuesday.

The 55-year-old man was bitten on Swain Reefs off the Queensland state town of Rockhampton on Monday afternoon but did not reach paramedics until his boat moored at Rockhampton's Rosslyn Bay on Tuesday, Queensland Ambulance Service supervisor Brad Miers said.

"A 55-year-old male represented quite well, however had a large bite to his left upper arm," Miers said.

"He stated that he'd caught a large reef shark and as he went to pull it on board, it turned and bit him," Miers said. "Despite a large wound ... he's in remarkable condition; very joyful." An ambulance crew took the man to Rockhampton Hospital, Miers said.

There have been three shark attacks on the Great Barrier Reef in three week.

A 46-year-old woman, Justine Barwick, was attacked on September 19 while swimming from a yacht in Cid Harbor on Whitsunday Island, about 400 kilometres north of Monday's attack. A 12-year-old girl, Hannah Papps, was attacked in the same harbor the next day.

The two tourists are recovering.

Authorities killed six sharks in the Cid Harbor area in a week following the attacks in a bid to reduce shark numbers in a popular tourist location.