Surfing school owner neglects to tell students about the shark!

A SURF school owner has defended his failure to warn his class that a large shark was swimming close to teenagers on a popular NSW beach.

Should the students have been told of the shark?

Silvio Rodriguez was photographing other surfers near the surf school students about midday when he noticed a large shadow. "At first I thought it was weed, but I kept an eye on it then out of the corner of my eye I saw the massive fin come up," Mr Rodriguez, 31, said.

"It was only maybe 30m away from the nearest learner surfer." Former professional surfer Gary Hughes, who runs Gary Hughes Surface School of Surf and Surf Consultancy, said he was aware of the shark and had been monitoring it.

"I did not tell the students because they just would have worried," Mr Hughes, 50, said.
"It was just having a cruise, it wasn't showing attack behaviour."