Surfers and survivors call for life-saving Shark Bite Kits on all Aussie beaches

Surfers and shark attack survivors are calling for government or corporate funding to roll out life-saving emergency response kits across all Australian beaches.

The Community Shark Bite Kits, designed to help control life-threatening bleeding, were designed by Danny Schouten, after his friend Kai McKenzie almost died from being bitten by a shark while surfing in Port Macquarie in 2024.

"It was by the grace of a man... walking his dog on the beach that day, who was trained in trauma control and used his dog lead to save Kai's life," Schouten said.

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"And I thought, we need to have one of these kits on every one of our beaches so it's not left up to chance next time."

Ten kits were initially rolled out in northern NSW last year and now there's 150 on beaches across NSW, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.

The inexpensive kits contain a tourniquet, two conforming bandages, two large dressings, an emergency thermal blanket, gloves, a whistle and step-by-step instructions on how to treat a shark bite.

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Schouten said his local community, which has seen multiple shark attacks, immediately jumped behind the project but interest was now also coming from further afield.

"The wider community, the surfing community is right behind this," he said.

"We know we're entering the unknown.

"There's a lot of people who will say 'we don't want to cull', 'we don't want nets'.

"There's no right mitigation strategy, only preparation."

He said a tourniquet applied within seconds could be the difference between someone surviving or succumbing to a shark attack.

"We live in a community where our mums, our dads, our friends, our brothers, they surf and if it's your friend, it's your brother, I pray that the place that they're surfing has one of these kits.

"Someone's life, after being attacked by a shark, has minutes... at most before you bleed out."

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McKenzie said he was fortunate to have had someone on the beach with trauma experience on the day he was bitten - but not everyone would be so lucky.

"I was lucky to have someone with such experience to save me, but there will come a day where that won't be the case and a Shark Bite Kit would help the chances of surviving dramatically," he said.

Schouten is currently fundraising on GoFundMe to expand the project, with the goal to see a kit on every single beach across the country.

"Ideally, we'd have the government's support... funding from businesses or other ventures to be able to get behind it and put one everywhere," Schouten said.

"It's about Australian beaches being well prepared for when these attacks happen and making our coastline a safer place for everyone.

"We're not going to stop doing what we love, so we just have to be better prepared."

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