\nPolice at Rottnest Island(Image: Nine)<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/button><\/div>\n
Multiple great white shark encounters were logged on the WA government’s SharkSmart website coinciding with the timing of the attack. On Sunday (May 17), anglers captured footage of a shark circling their vessel close to where Mr Mattaboni had suffered the fatal mauling.<\/p>\n
“That’s a big shark, man,” one of the boat occupants remarked.<\/p>\n
Fisheries officials dedicated Sunday to scouring the waters for the predator.<\/p>\n
At a press briefing held after the devastating incident, authorities praised the heroic efforts of the three mates who desperately attempted to rescue the cherished father and spouse following the assault.<\/p>\n
Mr Mattaboni’s tragic passing comes amid a terrifying spate of shark encounters along Australia’s eastern seaboard, with three incidents occurring within consecutive days in Sydney.<\/p>\n
On January 18, a 12 year old lad was rushed to hospital with life-threatening wounds after being set upon while swimming in Sydney Harbour’s Shark Bay. The following day, an 11-year-old’s board was chomped at Dee Why beach, just hours before a bloke was attacked at neighbouring Manly and hospitalised in a critical state.<\/p>\n
Subsequently, on January 20, a fourth wave rider “sustained a wound to his chest” when a shark chomped his board 186 miles further north along the coastline.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n\n
\n
\nSteven Mattaboni<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n
<\/button><\/div>\n
Surf Life Saving WA confirmed that a 16ft great white had been spotted at roughly 10am on Saturday around the time of the tragedy. An investigation into the fatality has commenced.<\/p>\n
Rottnest Island remains a treasured holiday destination in Western Australia. Steven’s demise represents the first lethal shark strike in the state since March of the previous year.<\/p>\n
Approximately 1,300 shark encounters have been recorded in Australia since documentation commenced in 1791. Roughly 260 of these incidents have resulted in death. You can contribute to the Mattaboni family’s fundraising campaign here.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Steven ‘Mattas’ Mattaboni, 38, died following a shark attack while spearfishing off Rottnest Island near…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/betreview.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0_Screenshot-2026-05-17-at-103829.jpg",1200,674,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/betreview.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0_Screenshot-2026-05-17-at-103829-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/betreview.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0_Screenshot-2026-05-17-at-103829-300x169.jpg",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/betreview.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0_Screenshot-2026-05-17-at-103829-768x431.jpg",640,359,true],"large":["https:\/\/betreview.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0_Screenshot-2026-05-17-at-103829-1024x575.jpg",640,359,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/betreview.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0_Screenshot-2026-05-17-at-103829.jpg",1200,674,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/betreview.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0_Screenshot-2026-05-17-at-103829.jpg",1200,674,false],"covernews-slider-full":["https:\/\/betreview.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0_Screenshot-2026-05-17-at-103829-1115x674.jpg",1115,674,true],"covernews-slider-center":["https:\/\/betreview.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0_Screenshot-2026-05-17-at-103829-800x500.jpg",800,500,true],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/betreview.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0_Screenshot-2026-05-17-at-103829-1024x575.jpg",1024,575,true],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/betreview.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0_Screenshot-2026-05-17-at-103829-540x340.jpg",540,340,true],"covernews-medium-square":["https:\/\/betreview.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0_Screenshot-2026-05-17-at-103829-400x250.jpg",400,250,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/betreview.net\/?author=1"},"category_info":"Stories<\/a>","tag_info":"Stories","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/betreview.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/betreview.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/betreview.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betreview.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betreview.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/betreview.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betreview.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/betreview.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betreview.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betreview.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}