Photo: Gérard Soury / Biosphoto
South Australian police are looking for the body of a man who is believed to have been killed by a shark off the state's west coast.
Emergency services were called to Granites Beach, 30 kilometres southwest of Streaky Bay, just after 7pm on Thursday evening following reports of a surfer being taken by a shark.
Police and State Emergency Service crews searched the area on Thursday night for the 28-year-old man from Port Lincoln.
The beach has been closed and police are asking people to avoid the area.
Senior Constable Rebecca Stokes said a surfboard had been recovered.
"I understand someone went out on a jetski immediately after the attack, which is extremely brave of them, and were able to recover the surfboard," she said.
"But there was just no sign of this young man, there's just been no sign of him.
"From witnesses' descriptions we're pretty confident that sadly he's been killed by this shark.
"From what I understand of the terrain and the surf there, it is known to be frequented by sharks."
Police said there would be further resources deployed on Friday in conjunction with water operations, and PolAir if conditions allowed.
They said they were preparing a report for the coroner.
Streaky Bay resident and commercial fisher Jeff Schmucker said he had been concerned about potential shark activity for several days.
"There was a 16-foot great white in a metre-and-a-half of water only 10 or 15 kilometres to the north three days ago," he said.
"That gave me concerns right from that outset.
"There was one caught on a long line the same day in Ceduna."
He said the combination of hot weather, a good surf forecast and lots of people in the water was a "recipe for disaster".
Emergency services are searching for the body of a man believed to have been killed by a shark at Granites beach on SA's West Coast. Photo: ABC News
'Large great white' spotted nearby, local says
On social media yesterday, Schmucker posted a warning about a "large aggressive great white" at Granites, after hearing from a local fisherman that his pots had been damaged.
Flinders University marine scientist and shark expert Charlie Huveneers said shark bites were "tragic events" and that he felt for the "family and friends of the victim", as well as for the witnesses and wider west coast community.
"There had been a few white shark sightings in the region and the shark responsible for the bites might not necessarily have been the shark described as aggressive," Professor Huveneers said.
"However, it is possible that it was the same shark as it was sighted nearby on the same day."
He said shark sightings were not necessarily reliable indicators of population abundance, but that sightings could be useful to know if sharks were nearby.
There were six shark attacks in an eight-month span along the SA coast in 2023, three of which were fatal.
In late 2023, 55-year-old Tod Gendle was taken by a shark at the same beach.
Witnesses said at the time that Gendle was paddling into the water when he was knocked off his surfboard by the shark on 31 October, 2023.
A few days later, Gendle's family issued a statement via police expressing their grief and thanking those involved in the search.
The 55-year-old's body was never discovered.
- ABC News
