Australian man critical following shark attack in Western Australia

A man attacked by a shark off a beach in Western Australia (WA) while surfing on Tuesday is fighting for life, the ABC reported on Wednesday.

The 29-year-old man, Ben Gerring, is believed to have lost a leg above the knee.

WA Department of Fisheries staff will set up traps at the beach on Wednesday morning to attempt to catch the shark, believed to be a three-meter long white shark.

A spokesperson for the department said, "a serious threat to public safety exists" at the beach in Mandurah, south of the city of Perth.

Mandurah Boardriders Club President Brian Williams told the ABC he arrived at the scene as fellow surfers dragged Gerring onto the beach.

"By the time they got him to the beach somebody had already applied a tourniquet to stop the bleeding and they were just trying to do CPR to get him back breathing," Williams said.

"We had to stop on a number of occasions to maintain CPR, but I was holding the stretcher as we were getting him into the ambulance."

He noted Gerring had lost a lot of blood.

"It's pretty harrowing seeing somebody you know lying there motionless, hoping that everything's going to be OK."

There have been a number of shark attacks in the Madurah region where Gerring was bitten in recent years, including the death of a diver in 2014. Endit