ROTTNEST ISLAND — A 38-year-old man died Saturday morning after being attacked by a great white shark while spearfishing off Rottnest Island, west of Perth, Western Australia Police said. The attack unfolded just before 10 a.m. local time on a coral reef near Australia's southwest coast.

The victim had been spearfishing with a friend and was near a dive boat when he was bitten on the legs, Western Australia Police Sergeant Michael Wear said. He said the man was then transported by that boat about one kilometer (1,100 yards) to Geordie Bay Jetty on the island, where paramedics and police performed CPR but could not resuscitate him.

The shark measured four meters (13 feet) and was a long great white, the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development said. Lifeguards reported that a five-meter (16-foot) white shark had been seen in the vicinity before the attack.

State authorities advised people to take extra caution in the water at Rottnest Island, a popular tourist destination. Police said a report will be prepared for the coroner.

The death was Australia's first shark fatality since January, when a 12-year-old boy died in a hospital days after being mauled by a bull shark in Sydney Harbour. It marked the first fatal shark attack in Western Australia since last March, when a man was mauled while surfing at Wharton Beach in a remote area. Rottnest Island's last fatal shark attack occurred in 2011, when a 32-year-old diver died — more than a decade before the current attack.

A string of attacks along the country's eastern coast earlier this year triggered the closure of several New South Wales beaches. Last September, a fatal attack off a Sydney beach killed an experienced surfer in his 50s. The most recent deadly mauling in Sydney before that occurred in 2022, when a 35-year-old British diving instructor became the first person killed in an attack off the city in nearly 60 years.

Australia has averaged more than three fatal shark attacks a year in recent decades. The majority of shark attacks occur along the east and southeast seaboard of Australia, with an average of 20 such incidents a year, according to Australia's Institute of Health and Welfare.