Shark filmed swimming under surfers at Byron Bay

An American traveller has captured a close encounter between a shark and a surfer on film in Byron Bay yesterday.

In the video the shark can be seen casually swimming within metres of a group of surfers who were paddling and catching small waves.

An oblivious surfer catches a wave over the shark which had swum around the group for about a minute undetected.

It then swims away without incident.

Derik Broshar, from Iowa, said he watched as the shark made its way directly towards the group of surfers while onlookers shouted to alert the authorities.

"We were looking down at all the surfers having a good time, and we saw this shark," Mr Broshar told The Northern Star.

"There were a few guys trying to whistle down but it was a little windy so you couldn't really hear us from that far up."

Mr Broshar said they were not able to identify the shark but later heard surfers had exited the water after seeing the animal swim around the same area later that day.

It follows several shark attacks on the Tweed Byron coast in recent weeks.

Last week, Byron Bay surfer Jade Fitzpatrick escaped with just a couple of teeth marks in his leg after a shark threw him from his board while surfing at Broken Head.

On September 26, a 17-year-old surfer was rushed to hospital with serious leg wounds after being mauled shortly before 9am at Ballina.

The Baird Government has promised to put nets in the area following a spate of attacks in the past 18 months.