A Vancouver man is recovering from non-life threatening injuries in Hawaii after he fought off an attacking shark Saturday while swimming off a Maui beach. 

Kyle Gruen, 29, was listed in stable condition at Maui Memorial Medical Center with lacerations to his leg and hand.

Gruen was about nine to 12 metres offshore Saturday when the shark grabbed his left side, said his twin brother, Jeff, who was on the beach when the attack happened.

"He was swimming along when just all of a sudden it got him," Jeff Gruen told the Honolulu Advertiser. "He pulled away and kicked it off, and it took off right away."

Maui County spokeswoman Ellen Pelissero said the victim was attacked near Kihei.

As a precaution, authorities closed beaches more than a kilometre in either direction of the attack.

It is the fourth shark attack in Hawaii this year.

With files from the Associated Press