Ledge Point: No sign of missing snorkeler Wen Ren Gu after he vanished in ocean on New Year’s Day

Family and friends of a snorkeler who went missing north of Perth on Thursday are holding onto hope he will be found alive after police and marine rescue teams were forced to scale back their search effort.

An emergency response was sparked at Ledge Point Beach around 3pm on New Year’s Day after Wen (Walter) Ren Gu failed to return to shore.

The 32-year-old was snorkelling with a group of friends from Perth but became separated from them and vanished. They had ventured into the water at about 10am.

Mr Gu’s friend Ching-Hui Chang has appealed for anyone who may have rescued, or provided a lift to an Asian male in the Ledge Point area on January 1, to contact police.

“At this time, we are unable to confirm whether he made it back to shore on his own or was rescued by nearby members of the public,” Ms Chang said.

“Police conducted search and rescue operations for 24 hours and have since stopped. We do not want to give up and hope to continue searching with the help of everyone’s support.”

Mr Gu is described as being about 165cm tall, of slim build, and has a distinctive anchor tattoo on the lower left of his abdomen.

He has been living in WA temporarily and working, but according to family, he was in the process of applying for his visa to continue studying in Australia.

Friends said he was a cheerful, out-going and family-oriented person, and his distressed family truly appreciated the public’s help looking for him.

In announcing the search had been scaled back on Friday, WA Police Sergeant Michael Paterson said Mr Gu had been searching for crayfish at the time he disappeared.

It was unclear how long he had been missing before authorities were notified.

“It’s likely there was a period of time before police were alerted where they (friends) spent their own time looking, so some time between 10am and 3pm,” Sgt Paterson said.

The incident has left the community in shock with resident Jay Barrett among many locals helping assist with the search effort.

“He wasn’t very far out at all, you can literally nearly walk to the reef where they were,” Mr Barrett said.

“It does have some treacherous spots. You’ve just got to be cautious when you dive. Accidents happen and it’s very, very tragic.”