The boat was badly damaged as the pair paddled off Castle Rock in Western Australia.
They were initially thrown in to the water, but managed to climb back aboard and paddle to shore before the canoe deflated entirely.
Officials have not been able to confirm the incident as a shark attack, but puncture marks have been identified as a probable bite.
A spokesperson from the WA Fisheries Department told ABC the marks were “a series of punctures in an arc, giving the impression of a bite.”
Several beaches were closed in the area, as a precaution.
Although, thankfully, these men escaped with just rattled nerves, this attack comes only a week after a 23-year-old surfer lost parts of both arms to a shark.
That incident led to two sharks being caught and killed off the WA coast, which in turn prompted objections from state’s environmental agency.
An increase in shark attacks is widely being attributed to the increasing popularity of water sports in Australia, but it’s left both swimmers and shark protection groups feeling uneasy.
The Castle Rock beach remains closed today, but there has been no catch-and-kill order in this case.
