A white pointer mauled 50-year-old British expat Paul Wilcox as his wife waited for him on the shore.

A man joked with his parents about sharks in their last phone call before he was mauled in a fatal attack at Byron Bay.

Beaches remain closed today after a white pointer mauled 50-year-old British expat Paul Wilcox, while his wife waited for him on the shore.

Wilcox had been swimming between the Pass and Main Beach at Byron Bay when he was bitten.

His grieving parents Bryan and Marie Wilcox, who live in northern Wales, have revealed they spoke to their son about sharks soon before he set off on the final swim of his life.

"But he said there had only been three shark attacks in the last 12 years. It's just extraordinary."

Newcastle paddleboarder Mark Hickey spotted him in trouble, just beyond the sandbar.

"I thought it was a turtle and then I looked closer and there was a lot of blood in the water, there was a shark circling and I recognised that it was a person," Mr Hickey told 7News.

Ignoring the threat, he ran out to chest-deep water and dragged Paul back to the beach.

"We then tried to give him CPR and mouth-to-mouth for about 20 minutes, Hickey said.

Excerpt from:

Beaches closed and a community in mourning after fatal Byron shark attack