Cooper Allen, a 17-year-old high school student, was surfing with friends on the first day of the students' spring vacation when he was attacked off Ballina's Lighthouse Beach at midmorning, Ballina Mayor David Wright said. The shark's lower jaw tore into the fiberglass as its upper teeth clamped his right hip and thigh, Wright said. Four shark attacks in the Ballina area have required hospital treatment since that tragedy and there have been many more near misses, Wright said. The state government last month abandoned plans to safeguard Lighthouse Beach with a 700-meter (770-yard) nylon shark barrier. Wright said he was in discussions with the state government on Monday to fund surveillance drones to scan the beaches.