Updated ,first published
Since 2000, 21 people have been killed in shark attacks off the WA coast.
May 16, 2026: A 38-year-old man was bitten by shark in Horseshoe Bay, off the coast of Rottnest Island. He was taken to shore and treated by paramedics but could not be saved.
March 10, 2025: Surfer Steven Payne, 37, was mauled by a shark in chest-deep water at Wharton’s Beach east of Esperance while on a holiday from Melbourne.
February 4, 2023: Schoolgirl Stella Berry, 16, was fatally mauled by a suspected bull shark while swimming with a pod of dolphins in the Swan River near the old Fremantle Traffic Bridge.
November 6, 2021: Swimmer Paul Millachip was killed in a shark attack at Fremantle’s Port Beach. The attack was witnessed by a group of teenagers on a boat, but the 57-year-old’s body was never found.
November 22, 2020: A swimmer was killed after he was bitten on the hand and thigh at Broome’s Cable Beach. Charles Cernobori was pulled from the water and treated by paramedics, but he died from his injuries.
October 9, 2020: Surfer Andrew Sharpe, 40, went missing at popular surf break Kelp Beds at Wylie Beach in Esperance, with authorities believing he was taken by a shark after widespread reports of a sighting at the beach and the recovery of his surfboard.
January 5, 2020: Experienced diver Gary Johnson, 57, was scuba-diving off Cull Island, about seven kilometres offshore from Esperance, with his wife, Karen Milligan, when he was attacked by a great white shark.
April 17, 2017: Laeticia Brouwer, 17, died while surfing a break near Esperance with her father. She was bitten in the leg by a suspected great white shark.
June 5, 2016: Doreen Collyer, 60, died while diving a kilometre out from Mindarie Marina between One and Three Mile reefs. The Edith Cowan University lecturer was attacked by a large great white. Witnesses said the shark was bigger than their 5-metre boat.
May 31, 2016: Ben Gerring, 29, died after having his leg severed and being dragged under water twice by a great white shark at Falcon Beach around 4pm at a break he had surfed since he was a teenager.
December 29, 2014: Jay Muscat, 17, from Albany, died after being bitten by what is believed to have been a 4-5 metre great white shark while spearfishing off Cheynes Beach, about 65 kilometres east of Albany.
November 23, 2013: Surfer Chris Boyd, 35, was killed by a shark in waters off Gracetown in WA’s South West.
July 14, 2012: Passionate young surfer Ben Linden was killed by a great white shark off Wedge Island, near Lancelin, north of Perth.
March 31, 2012: Peter Kurmann, 33, died after an attack while diving off Stratham Beach, between Busselton and Bunbury.
October 22, 2011: George Thomas Wainwright, a 32-year-old man from the US, was killed after being bitten by a great white shark while diving off Rottnest Island.
October 10, 2011: Bryn Martin, 64, was probably taken by a great white shark after he was last seen about 350 metres from the shore on his daily swim at Cottesloe Beach.
September 4, 2011: Kyle James Burden, 21, was killed while on his bodyboard at Bunker Bay, near Dunsborough.
August 17, 2010: Nick Edwards died after a shark attacked him while he was surfing near Gracetown.
December 27, 2008: Fisherman Brian Guest was taken by a great white while snorkelling at Port Kennedy.
March 19, 2005: Luxury boat skipper Geoffrey Brazier, 26, died when a shark bit him in half near the Abrolhos Islands.
July 11, 2004: Surfer Brad Smith, 29, died in a shark attack while surfing a popular reef off Gracetown in WA’s Margaret River region.
November 6, 2000: Businessman and father of three Ken Crew, 49, died after his leg was torn off in shallow waters at North Cottesloe by what fisheries officers believe was a four-metre great white shark.
