The 10-year-old boy was fishing with three adults on Friday afternoon when a shark "grabbed" him and dragged him out of their boat.

Circular Head mayor Daryl Quilliam said the father was "very heroic".

"He jumped in there and the shark apparently took off. So obviously they got the boy and the father back into the boat," he said.

"I just think he's a hero and I'm sure that when this is all over and they realise just how miraculous it was he should feel very proud of what he's done for him and for the family and for everybody concerned."

Councillor Quilliam said he understood the group was cleaning fish at the time of the attack and he had been told the shark was likely to be either a great white or mako shark.

He said the community was "in awe" in the aftermath of the incident.

"I've lived here in Circular Head all my life and I can't remember another attack at all. So it is just a really rare event that," he said.

Ambulance Tasmania transported the child to the North West Regional Hospital with lacerations to his arm and cuts to his chest and head.

He was later sent to the Launceston General Hospital were he remained in a stable condition as of Saturday morning.

Cr Quilliam hoped the incident would not stop families from getting together and going fishing.

"But people will obviously be looking around a bit more as a result of this and to be using any precaution they can," he said.

The incident follows a spate of shark attacks across Australia in the last year, including five fatal attacks.

Just three days ago a 29-year-old filmmaker was bitten by a shark off Fitzroy Island in Far North Queensland.

A 15-year-old boy died after a suspected shark attack on the Mid North Coast of NSW last weekend.

The incident also follows an attack on Tasmania's Justine Barwick in 2018, which left her in a critical condition.

Mrs Barwick was snorkeling in the Whitsundays with her husband and friends when a shark bit her leg.

She was kept in the Intensive Care Unit of the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital where she underwent reconstructive surgery for her leg.