Man bitten by shark off coast while trying to catch it with rope

A Victorian man bitten by a shark after jumping into the water to catch it with a rope says he had no intention to harm the creature.

Video emerged in recent days of Josh Neille, also known as “Ferret”, jumping head-first off his boat and grabbing a lemon shark by its tail off the Far North Queensland coast in April.

“As I tried to swim across it and tail-rope it to bring it in, it swung around and bit me on the leg,” Mr Neille told 9NEWS this afternoon.

He had to be treated at Cape York Peninsula for bite wounds to his right thigh.

Despite receiving a slew of negative comments for the video on social media for his actions, Mr Neille said he and his friends were out fishing with the “best intentions.”

Mr Neille explained the nine-foot (2.7m) shark had fishing equipment stuck in its body, and he had used the hands-on technique to avoid having to cut it open on board the boat.

“I wanted to put a pipe in its mouth on the boat (to) remove the hooks and release the shark,” he said.

“We went out there with the best intentions. I had no plans to go out and kill it for fun. I’d rather see it let go.”

The shark was later caught and killed by anglers, with its carcass used for crab bait.

Mr Neille, who works to rehabilitate sick animals in Gippsland, said the killing of the shark “was not a big deal.”

“It’s not a protected species, it’s no different to any other fish.”

Sea World’s Director of Marine Sciences, Trevor Long, said the video of Mr Neille promoted the “wrong values.”

“It tells our children that, you know, you can slaughter them, it's fun…it doesn't promote the right,” Mr Long said.