Professional bodyboarder Lilly Pollard waded into the water to film the grey nurse shark swimming in Shell Cove Marina in Shellharbour, NSW, recently.

In the video, filmed at 7:40pm on Sunday, November 7, the grey nurse shark swam into shallow waters on the boat ramp - just metres where Ms Pollard was standing.

"Oh sick! That's so rad! That's sick!" Ms Pollard said in the clip while other impressed onlookers could be heard in the background.

Ms Pollard said she heard reports of "a couple of those critically endangered grey nurse sharks hanging around in the marina" and decided to visit.

"It was actually after sunset so we didn't even expect to see anything. We just went for a little wander down to the boat ramp and as I walked down I just saw the sharks swimming up towards us on the boat ramp, which was so cool," Ms Pollard told Australian Community Media.

"It was fully just chilled out just doing a few circles around the little boat ramp. Just literally swam up to us, said 'G'day' and then continued on its way."

Ms Pollard said the shark was a "pretty decent size, probably around 1.3 metres or so".

"I already know they're harmless as a lot of people know. There's a crew of them that hang out at Bushrangers Bay and I've been down snorkelling with them and stuff - they're pretty chill little creatures," she said.

"For me, I'm curious how this little area [Shell Cove Marina] is going to be protected with all the new boats and all the people coming in over summer.

"It's pretty sick they're coming in and hanging around in there so hopefully council or someone will put up some signs to give notice that they're there and hopefully everyone respects their presence. They're nothing to be afraid of, just chill little sharks."

IN OTHER NEWS:

Grey nurse sharks eat a wide range of fish, other sharks, squids, crabs and lobsters and are often seen just above the sea bed in the vicinity of inshore rocky reefs and islands.

They have a large, rather stout body, a conical snout and three rows of protruding, smooth-edged, sharp-pointed teeth.

Despite its fearsome appearance and strong swimming ability, it is a relatively placid and slow-moving shark with no confirmed human fatalities.

Until recently, the grey nurse shark had an undeserved reputation in Australia as a man-eater.

In 1990, shark photographer John Harding found that grey nurses are not a threat to divers or swimmers unless provoked.

Zoologist Gilbert Whitley concluded many shark attacks in Australia were incorrectly attributed to the grey nurse shark often due to its fierce appearance in 1983.

The grey nurse shark's reputation led to indiscriminate killing of the species by spear and line fishers.

Current threats to the species are believed to be incidental catch from commercial fisheries, recreational fishing and, to a lesser extent, the bather protection programs run in New South Wales and Queensland.

The species is listed as two separate populations under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).

The east coast population is listed as critically endangered while the west coast population is listed as vulnerable.