A surfer mauled to death by a shark in front of his girlfriend is being remembered as an ‘incredible person,’ as authorities desperately work to find his body.

Steven Payne, 37, from New Zealand, was just weeks into a six-month trip around Australia with his girlfriend and their dog when they stopped for a surf at Wharton Beach on Western Australia’s south coast on Monday. 

Mr Payne was surfing in chest-deep water 50 metres from shore at the time of the attack. 

Shocked onlookers, including his partner, were powerless to help him as his screams rang out.

The rescue operation soon became a recovery mission after a member of the public shared drone footage of Mr Payne being attacked by the shark with police. 

His surfboard was found nearby with bite marks, but authorities have yet to find his body, with recovery efforts resuming on Wednesday morning. 

The board will be tested in a bid to determine the species of shark that attacked him.

Mr Payne worked in Melbourne as a sales and marketing director and a volunteer fire fighter. 

Steven Payne, 37, from New Zealand, was just weeks into a six-month trip around Australia with his girlfriend and their dog

Mr Payne grew up in Lower Hutt, near Wellington, and school friends recalled he was a talented rugby player

‘He was an incredible person who was always there for his mates,’ one friend said

He grew up in Lower Hutt, near Wellington, and school friends described him as a talented rugby player.

One friend told 7 News that Mr Payne was a ‘really good lad’ who had only moved to Melbourne recently. 

‘He was an incredible person who was always there for his mates,’ said another friend, who described the news as ‘devastating’. 

It’s understood that Mr Payne and his partner had been together for more than 10 years and had previously lived in Namibia in South Africa.

Authorities arrived at the remote beach at 12.10pm on Monday, before closing the beach to commence a search. 

Western Australia Police Force Senior Sergeant Christopher Taylor said on Tuesday that Mr Payne was with several other surfers when he was attacked but there was ‘nothing they could do, nothing’. 

The combination of witness accounts and the drone footage made it ‘so obvious what happened,’ he said. 

‘It (the drone footage)shows a lot of blood, the shark and some other things in there I don’t particularly want to go into and I don’t think anybody else needs to see other than maybe the coroner and some other experts who will determine the type of shark and size,’ Senior Sergeant Taylor said.

Steven Payne was attacked by a shark at Wharton Beach on Monday. Pictured are police at the scene

He added that Mr Payne’s girlfriend was ‘distraught’. 

‘Her life was turned upside down,’ he said.

‘You can imagine how she is, it’s just horrible.

‘It is heartbreaking obviously and the whole community of Esperance feels the pain – not as much as the family, they’re distraught and trying to come to terms with what happened.’ 

Mr Payne’s family is believed to be on their way to WA.

Witnesses described seeing a ‘massive shark’ launching itself at the surfer in the water. 

An unidentified species of shark was detected off the Wharton Beach shoreline within minutes of the attack on monitoring website SharkSmart.  

The same stretch of the Esperance coastline, a favourite haunt for snorkellers and surfers, has recorded three fatal shark attacks in eight years. 

There are grave fears the surfer’s body may never be found (pictured police at the scene)

In 2017, 17-year-old surfer Laeticia Brouwer died after being bitten by a white shark at nearby Kelp Beds. 

Andrew Sharpe, 52, was surfing with seven friends at Kelp Beds in 2020 when a shark bit his leg. 

He was soon pulled under by the shark before he could be rescued.  

Earlier that year, diver Gary Johnson was killed while diving with his wife off Devil Rocks, Esperance. 

Esperance Shire President Ron Chambers told ABC Radio Perth each new attack is another blow to the community.

‘The community’s been here before, they’ll wrap around each other and make sure they take care of each other,’ said Mr Chambers. 

‘We’ve got absolutely fantastic beaches, and we get a lot of people down here who visit them.

‘It is really sad that something like this has happened on that particular beach.’