Historical reference record — not independently verified
Shark incident at Off Port Stephens near Newcastle, New South Wales, AUSTRALIA — 2025-02-23
What happened
Historical record: Off Port Stephens near Newcastle, New South Wales, AUSTRALIA. Recorded date: 2025-02-23. Classification: Fishing accident / shark-related, not a bite attack.
What is known
- Recorded classification: Fishing accident / shark-related, not a bite attack
What remains uncertain
- Police/coroner reporting indicates the shark did not bite/attack the victim. Do not label this a shark-bite fatality.
- Historical source match supplied with the recovery material; not independently verified.
Fact panel
- Date
- 2025-02-23
- Date precision
- Exact
- Location
- Off Port Stephens near Newcastle, New South Wales, AUSTRALIA
- Country
- AUSTRALIA
- Activity
- Fishing competition; hooked mako shark
- Incident classification
- Fishing accident / shark-related, not a bite attack
- Area / state
- New South Wales
- Person / vessel
- Paul Barning
- Age
- 58
- Sex
- M
- Injury / case note
- Fatal after fishing line became entangled and pulled him overboard.
- Outcome
- Fatal
- Species
- Mako shark
- Species confidence
- Reported
- Coordinate precision
- Region
Incident location
Off Port Stephens near Newcastle, New South Wales, AUSTRALIA
Approximate area: New South Wales
The marker represents the named area, not the exact incident site.
The interactive map loads when it comes into view. Incident details remain available as text.
Location precision: Approximate area
Representative map position for New South Wales from Natural Earth. This marks the general area, not the exact incident site. This is historical location context, not live shark tracking or a measure of risk.
Sources and verification
- Australian contemporary reporting / coroner evidence — www.abc.net.auSupports: Historical incident fields; supplied source match, not independent verification
Shark incident records can change as investigations develop. This page shows the current verification status and was last restored from supplied historical reference material on 2026-09-25.
Historical facts retain the provenance and uncertainty of the cited references. Source timestamps record when the supplied material was imported, not an independent source retrieval or verification.
Supplementary content updated: 2026-09-24. This does not change the original verification status or review date.