A 23-year-old man is being flown to Perth to be treated for horrific injuries he suffered in a shark attack near Esperance in southern Western Australia.

Nine News Perth has identified the man as Sean Pollard, of Bunbury. He has lost part of both of his arms after the attack at Wylie Bay this morning.

BREAKING: Esperance shark attack victim is confirmed as 23-year-old Sean Pollard from Bunbury. #9Newscomau — Nine News Perth (@9NewsPerth) October 2, 2014

A spokesman for WA St John Ambulance told news.com.au a witness said the man had lost part of his arm at the elbow and the other at the wrist. He also suffered serious lacerations to his legs.

A WA Fisheries spokeswoman confirmed late this afternoon a 3-4.5m great white shark had been captured and would be killed.

#WA man has lost both arms after #shark attack at #Esperance Beach. #FlyingDoctor are evacuating patient to Perth for treatment. — Royal Flying Doctor (@RoyalFlyingDoc) October 2, 2014

Blood supplies rushed to Esperance for shark attack victim. #perthnews http://t.co/5mzt0iFkBD pic.twitter.com/Rvq0DstC3u — The West Australian (@thewest_com_au) October 2, 2014

Esperance Shire President Malcolm Heasman told Perth Now the man was from Bunbury and had been surfing with his girlfriend when he was attacked.

“I don’t know if he was a holiday-maker or if he has been living in Esperance for some time,” he said.

Mr Heasman said the man’s family had been notified of the attack and authorities were trying to retrieve his surfboard.

“There has been some increased (shark) activity out in Wylie Bay over several weeks.”

“I got a phone call from someone a fortnight ago … that there had been some increased shark activity.

“There has been something ongoing there for a while, we don’t know what it is.

In a statement, WA Fisheries said they were about to start hunting the shark. It isn’t known what species it was.

Permission needs to be obtained from the Federal Government to kill the shark.

In the past few weeks fisheries officers have been investigating several reports of sharks off Esperence, including a reported sighting 50m off the coast off Wylie Bay, the West Australian reported.

Surf Life Saving WA tweeted on September 21 that Fisheries had advised it of a 4m shark sighted at West Beach Dalyup near Esperance.

WA has had seven fatal shark attack in three years. Wylie Bay is a popular surf break which has 4-wheel-drive only access, about 15km east of Esperance on WA’s south coast.

The beach has been closed indefinitely.