Filmmaker Dave Riggs captured footage of the shark in WA. Photo / Facebook
A Western Australian man has filmed a close encounter with a massive great white shark at one of the state's most popular beaches.
Esperance film maker Dave Riggs filmed the shark approximately 50m off Fourth Beach at Twilight Bay using a drone on Saturday.
It is not far from West Beach, which is one of WA's busiest and most famous beaches.
Riggs estimated the shark was between five and six metres long.
The footage shows the animal getting uncomfortably close to an 8.5m patrol boat.
The film comes as fears over increased shark sightings grow in the area, where 17-year-old surfer Laeticia Brouwer was killed in April.
Riggs uploaded the footage to Facebook, where it attracted thousands of views and hundreds of comments from shocked followers.
He later published a post about the increased shark sightings in the area.
"Rather than dwelling on our personal relationship with the ocean I reckon its time to consider what perhaps is the bigger picture here. Esperance has had a drama with small white shark/human interactions at Kelp Beds every year for some time now. Those sharks are quite light in colour . like they are coastal creatures. The ones that are here right now are pretty much black . like they have followed the dead sperm whales we have on the beach down here at the moment from the deep waters off the shelf. We should be looking to tow these dead sperm whales back out to sea when they beach rather than spend 300k to send them to a rubbish tip . there's no way you're getting a D9, excavator and low loader beyond Alexander Bay where the other whale is beached," he wrote.
Riggs has previously filmed documentaries about sharks and he is pushing for tighter safety measures to protect beachgoers, such as acoustic tagging and better warning signs.
According to The Australian, locals fear a whale carcass found at Alexander Bay recently could be attracting more sharks closer to the shoreline.
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