Mick Fanning spots fin first time back surfing

In a blog post following Fanning’s unbelievable escape, Branson praised him and a fellow surfer, Julian Wilson, who swam out to his aid as “true role models” but urged: “The coverage of this highly unusual event should not be used as an excuse to mount further campaigns to kill even more sharks”.

Fanning’s fearless return to the waves was filmed by the Australian “60 Minutes” crew on Saturday as his mother, Liz, watched nervously from the beach.

Footage shows the world champ dashing for a jet ski, and later telling reporter Peter Stefanovic he had seen a shark.

The 34-year-old, three-time world champion was attacked by a great white shark at J-Bay in South Africa earlier this month while he competed in a World Surfing League competition final.

‘There he is, straight out there – I just saw it, ” Fanning says, visibly in shock.

Fanning posted a photo on Instagram on Saturday to mark his first surf back, saying it felt “so good”.

“Surfed by myself but had Andy in my thoughts”.

His return to the surf was being filmed by a 60 Minutes crew at Hastings Point, 25km south of the Queensland border on the northern NSW coast, last weekend.

The promotional clip doesn’t say if the fin belonged to a shark or a less menacing creature.

Sir Richard Branson has called for sharks to be protected rather than hunted down and killed in the wake of an attack on one of the world’s leading surfers.

On the same day a large shark was spotted by surfers at the nearby Snapper Rocks break and beaches in the area have been closed this week because of shark sightings.

World Surf League event abandoned following attack on live TV.