Growing concerns as 22 sharks caught near popular QLD tourism hotspot

There are growing safety concerns for swimmers after 22 sharks were caught near a Queensland tourism hotspot in just over six weeks.

A massive 3.85m tiger shark was one of the sharks caught outside the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park since the State Government abandoned its catch-and-kill ­program in September.

The issue has raised serious concerns about the protection of tourists and swimmers, with a man lucky to escape with minor injuries after being struck by a shark during an evening swim on the central Queensland coast at the weekend.

The man, aged in his 30s, was snorkelling at Bargara, 13 kilometres east of Bundaberg, when he attacked by the shark.

Paramedics attended the scene and treated him for bruising to his chest and abdomen, and a laceration to his foot.

"It is unknown what caused the laceration to his foot, the patient reports he was struck in the chest by the shark but not bitten," a Queensland Ambulance Service spokesman told Brisbane Times.

"It is understood the patient did make his own way home and then he and his partner began to drive towards Bundaberg Base Hospital."

In November, a British tourist had his foot bitten off by a shark that attacked him and a friend  in the waters of Hook Passage.

They had been on a ZigZag Whitsundays boat tour and were playfighting in the water when the shark bit one man before circling and returning to bite the other. 

They applied first aid as the boat steamed back to Airlie Beach to hand the pair over to a rescue helicopter crew.

The attacks come after the Government removed 160 drum lines from the Commonwealth marine park in September after the Federal Court upheld the Administrative Appeals Tribunal's ­ruling requiring Queensland to abide by a catch-and-release program.