A dream road trip turned tragic when a Victorian surfer was fatally attacked by a shark while his partner watched in horror at a remote beach in Western Australia.
Steven Payne, a 37-year-old from Melbourne, was surfing at Wharton Beach near Esperance—about 500 miles southeast of Perth—when the attack happened just after midday on Monday. His body has yet to be recovered.
A massive search effort involving police, marine rescue teams, and emergency personnel was launched immediately and resumed at first light on Tuesday.
“Unfortunately, that search has not recovered the surfer’s body—I can also confirm that our search is a recovery, not a rescue,” Senior Sergeant Chris Taylor said.
Payne was reportedly in chest-deep water, around 160 feet from shore, with at least two other surfers when the shark struck. Taylor said there was nothing anyone could have done to save him.
Drone footage and witness accounts paint a grim picture of the attack. “It shows a lot of blood, the shark, and some other things I don’t think anyone else needs to see—except maybe the coroner and experts who will determine the shark’s species and size,” Taylor added.
Payne and his partner had just set out on a six-month adventure with their dog when tragedy struck.
His surfboard, marked with bite wounds, is being held by police and will be analyzed to confirm the type of shark involved.
Authorities remain in contact with Payne’s devastated partner, and his family is planning to fly to Western Australia. “It’s heartbreaking,” Taylor said. “The whole Esperance community feels this pain, but nothing compares to what his family is going through right now.”
Search efforts may be called off as early as this afternoon, as police say there’s only so much of the bay they can comb through.
This attack is one of several fatal shark incidents in the region in recent years. In 2017, 17-year-old Laeticia Brouwer was killed by a great white at the same beach. In 2020, local diver Gary Johnson was attacked near Cull Island while his wife looked on, and later that year, surfer Andrew Sharpe was killed at Kelp Beds. In 2022, a great white mauled Perth woman Jacquelin Morley while she was floating on an inflatable raft at the same location.
Despite the outcry from some in the community, Payne’s family does not support calls for the shark to be hunted and killed.
Local ocean safety advocate Mitch Capelli, who founded the Esperance Ocean Safety and Support Group after Brouwer’s death, said it was heartbreaking to see another fatal attack.
“All of us locals knew it was only a matter of time. That’s the disappointing part—no one is really surprised,” Capelli said.
He criticized authorities for not deploying smart drumlines immediately after the attack. “If they catch a shark that fits the description, it should be studied for scientific purposes,” he said. “At the moment, nothing’s been done.”