If you’ve spent any time on a Mid North Coast beach in the last couple of months, you’ve probably noticed a small red box bolted to the wall of your local surf club. It’s a shark bite kit, and it’s there for one reason: to help stop catastrophic bleeding in the minutes before paramedics arrive.
This isn’t a hypothetical concern for our region. The Port Macquarie-Hastings area has had more than its share of serious shark encounters in recent years, including the attack on local surfer Kai McKenzie at North Shore Beach in 2024, which led directly to the creation of the Community Shark Bite Kits initiative. There was also the recent shark attack of Leah Stewart who was swimming Coogee Beach, Eastern Suburbs of Sydney.
As the team behind Community SBK put it themselves: this isn’t a Band-Aid in a box. In this guide, we’ll break down exactly what’s in the two main types of shark bite kit you’ll find around NSW, the Community Shark Bite Kits (Bite Aid) and the Surf Life Saving NSW Shark Bite Trauma Kits, plus what each item does and why simply having a kit isn’t the same as knowing how to use one.
Why Shark Bite Kits Exist on the Mid North Coast
Shark bites are rare, but when they happen, the biggest threat to survival isn’t the bite itself, it’s blood loss. A bite to the leg or arm can sever a major blood vessel, and a person can lose a life-threatening amount of blood in as little as three to five minutes. Ambulances, even with the best response times, often can’t reach an isolated beach that fast.
That’s the gap these kits are designed to fill. They’re built around a simple idea: give an untrained bystander the tools and the instructions to control severe bleeding immediately, buying time until paramedics take over. The same logic underpins workplace and public bleeding-control programs around the world, and it’s exactly why our first aid and CPR courses spend real time on bleeding control rather than rushing past it.
What’s in a Community Shark Bite Kit (Bite Aid)
The Community Shark Bite Kits initiative, known on Instagram as Bite Aid – Community SBK, started right here on the Mid North Coast. Bonny Hills local Danny Schouten launched the project after his friend Kai McKenzie lost a leg in a shark attack at North Shore Beach, Port Macquarie, in July 2024. What began as a handful of community-funded kits around Port Macquarie-Hastings has since grown to well over 250 kits installed on beaches across New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.
Every Community Shark Bite Kit contains:
- SOF Tourniquet — a military-grade tourniquet for controlling severe bleeding in an arm or leg
- 2 compression bandages — to help maintain pressure on the injury
- 2 large dressings — to pack and cover serious wounds
- Emergency thermal blanket — to help prevent shock and hypothermia
- Emergency whistle — to attract attention and call for help
- Amputated parts bags — for the rare but possible case of a severed limb
- Gloves — for the responder’s protection
- 2 Shark Bite Management Cards — detailing exactly what to do, including how to apply the tourniquet
- Permanent marker — to record the time the tourniquet was applied, a critical detail for paramedics
That last item is a small but telling detail. Knowing when a tourniquet went on tells the treating paramedics and hospital team how long the limb has been without blood flow, which directly affects how they manage the injury. It’s the kind of detail that separates a thoughtfully designed kit from a generic one.
These kits are community-funded and installed in partnership with local councils, surf clubs and lifesaving groups, often at beaches without regular lifeguard patrols. On the Northern Beaches alone they’re now installed at multiple unpatrolled locations, and the project’s stated goal is to eventually have a kit on every beach in Australia.
Where Community Shark Bite Kits Are Installed Locally
Locally, kits have been progressively rolled out across isolated and semi-isolated beaches in the Port Macquarie-Hastings region, the same stretch of coast where the initiative began. If you spot damage to a kit or want to support a new installation, the Community SBK Instagram page is the best place to get in touch.
What’s in a Surf Life Saving NSW Shark Bite Trauma Kit
In 2026, Surf Life Saving NSW (SLSNSW) confirmed it would roll out publicly accessible Shark Bite Trauma Kits to every one of its surf clubs along the NSW coastline, more than 120 in total. SLSNSW CEO Steve Pearce said the kits address the reality that volunteer surf lifesavers are usually the first emergency responders to a shark bite incident, and that having a kit available even when no lifesaver is on duty closes a real safety gap.
The kits are mounted on the outside wall of each surf club, so they’re accessible to the public at any time, including outside patrol hours and at dawn or dusk, when shark activity tends to be highest and lifesavers usually aren’t yet on the sand. Each SLSNSW Shark Bite Trauma Kit includes:
- 2 x SOFTT-W Tourniquets
- 1 x 6″ OLAES Trauma Dressing (with packing gauze)
- 1 x 4″ OLAES Trauma Dressing (with packing gauze)
- 1 x 15cm Trauma Shears
- 1 x Emergency Blanket
- 4 x Pairs of Nitrile Gloves
- CPR Flow Chart Card
- A QR code on the box — linking to guided, step-by-step video instructions for using the tourniquet and wound wraps correctly
SLSNSW has been clear that the kits are designed to be usable by members of the public with no formal medical training. As Dee Why SLSC President Lachlan Pike put it, the goal of the tourniquet is simple: stem the blood loss and significantly reduce the risk of a life-threatening bleed before paramedics arrive.
The SLSNSW rollout sits alongside the organisation’s existing UAV shark surveillance program, which patrols around 80 beaches daily across the state and logs tens of thousands of drone flights each season. The trauma kits don’t replace that surveillance, they’re the backup plan for the moments surveillance and patrols can’t prevent.
How to Use a Shark Bite Kit
Here’s the part that doesn’t get talked about enough: having a tourniquet within reach doesn’t help if you’ve never practised applying one under pressure. QR codes and printed cards are a good backup, but real confidence comes from muscle memory, the kind you only build by practising on a training mannequin with someone watching your technique.
In a genuine emergency, you’ll typically need to:
- Call 000 immediately, or have someone else call while you start treatment
- Get the person out of the water and onto the sand or a firm surface
- Apply firm, direct pressure to the wound, then pack it with dressings if it’s deep
- Apply a tourniquet above the wound if bleeding is severe and not controlled by pressure alone, tightening it until the bleeding stops
- Note the time the tourniquet was applied and don’t remove it once it’s on
- Keep the person warm and as calm as possible to reduce the risk of shock while you wait for paramedics
This is exactly the skillset covered in our Port Macquarie and Taree first aid courses, and it’s part of why we run hands-on, scenario-based training rather than just talking through slides. Knowing where the local shark bite kit is bolted to the wall is one half of the equation. Knowing what to do with it, confidently and quickly, is the other.
Why This Matters for Mid North Coast Locals and Visitors
Port Macquarie, Taree and the surrounding Mid North Coast region see some of the highest volumes of recreational water use in NSW, from surfers and swimmers to fishers and paddlers. With shark bite kits now appearing at surf clubs and isolated beaches right across our area, more people than ever are within arm’s reach of the equipment needed to save a life. The missing piece for most people is simply the training to use it well.
Whether you’re a parent who wants to be prepared at the beach, a surf coach responsible for a group of junior athletes, or a workplace that operates near the water, a current first aid or CPR qualification gives you the practical skills, bleeding control, shock management and CPR, that sit behind every kit on this coastline.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is in a shark bite kit?
Most shark bite kits contain a tourniquet, wound dressings, and instructions for use. Community Shark Bite Kits specifically include a SOF tourniquet, two compression bandages, two large dressings, an emergency thermal blanket, a whistle, amputated parts bags, gloves, two Shark Bite Management Cards and a permanent marker. SLSNSW Shark Bite Trauma Kits focus on a tourniquet, wound wraps and a QR code linking to video instructions.
Why is there a permanent marker in a shark bite kit?
It’s used to write down the time a tourniquet was applied. This single detail matters a lot to paramedics and hospital staff, since it tells them how long blood flow to the limb has been restricted.
Who can use a shark bite kit?
Anyone. Both the Community Shark Bite Kits and the SLSNSW Shark Bite Trauma Kits are specifically designed for use by members of the public who have no formal medical training, with clear printed cards or QR-linked instructions included.
Where are shark bite kits located on the Mid North Coast?
Community Shark Bite Kits have been installed at a number of isolated and semi-isolated beaches across the Port Macquarie-Hastings region, where the initiative began, and SLSNSW is progressively installing Shark Bite Trauma Kits at surf clubs along the broader NSW coastline, including the Mid North Coast.
Do I need training to use a shark bite kit?
No formal qualification is required to use one in an emergency, but completing a first aid course that covers bleeding control and tourniquet use means you’ll act faster and with more confidence if you’re ever the first person on the scene.
Does a first aid course cover how to use a tourniquet?
Yes. Our HLTAID011 Provide First Aid course covers bleeding control techniques, including pressure, wound packing and tourniquet application, alongside CPR and other essential life-saving skills.
Be Ready Before You Need a Kit
Shark bite kits are a genuinely valuable addition to beach safety on the Mid North Coast, but they work best in the hands of someone who already knows what to do. Coastal First Aid runs practical, hands-on first aid and CPR courses across Port Macquarie, Taree and the wider Mid North Coast region, with same-day certificates and a training style built around real-world confidence, not just paperwork.
Ready to build the skills behind the kit? Simply check out our upcoming first aid course dates and enrol in a first aid course today. Have a group that wants training – check out our workplace first aid course page here.
