MAKENA - The state Department of Land and Natural Resources closed South Maui waters from Big Beach to the La Perouse Bay lighthouse after an apparent fatal shark attack Wednesday morning.

A 65-year-old Kihei woman was pronounced dead at the scene, and injuries to the woman's upper torso suggested she was attacked by a shark, Fire Services Chief Edward Taomoto said.

Authorities did not disclose the victim's name Wednesday.

The Fire Department received a call at 8:58 a.m. of an unresponsive female pulled from the water in the Kanahena Cove area of the Ahihi-Kinau Natural Area Reserve. Wailea firefighters arrived on the scene at 9:12 a.m. at the popular surf spot known as "Dumps," about a mile south of Big Beach, Taomoto said.

Paramedics and firefighters began lifesaving efforts, but the woman did not survive.

Snorkelers found the unresponsive woman floating face down in the water about 200 yards offshore and pulled her from the water, Taomoto said. The victim reportedly was snorkeling with two other friends and at some point separated from the others. The woman was alone when she was found. No one reported witnessing the attack.

A black Toyota Scion xB belonging to the victim was towed away from the area around noon and taken into evidence, police said.

The waters offshore of the reserve were calm and clear despite heavy rain on the island Sunday and Monday. At 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, no witnesses were found at the surf spot, and DLNR officials sitting in the parking lot said they had not found anyone who knew what led to the woman's death.

DLNR officials posted shark sighting signs from Big Beach to La Perouse Bay and closed the parking lot for the Ahihi-Kinau Natural Area Reserve.

The South Maui shoreline will remain closed until noon today, when officials will assess the area for reopening.

Russell Sparks, DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources Maui aquatic biologist, said Wednesday the water appeared to have been "pretty calm and decent looking" at the time of the incident, though the wind and waves picked up by the afternoon.

"There were no signs of storm runoff or muddy water, the water looked pretty nice this morning," Sparks said.

His team surveyed the area after the attack but did not find any "obvious reasons for concerns."

"Murky water, light schools of fish that might be drawing predators of the area, carcasses of dead animals nearby, (we look for) anything obvious and usually we don't see anything like that," Sparks said.

DLNR First Deputy Kekoa Kaluhiwa held a news conference at Magic Island on Oahu around noon Wednesday on the Maui incident.

"We don't have details on the victim or what type of shark at this time, we just don't know," Kaluhiwa told The Maui News in a phone interview.

He added that department staffers were warning beachgoers and posting warning signs in the affected areas.

If confirmed as a shark attack, the Wednesday attack will mark the second shark incident around Maui this year. The other reported attack occurred Jan. 27 at the Lahaina pali scenic lookout. Michael Pollard suffered lacerations to his lower left leg while on land trying to unhook a tiger shark from his fishing line.

Last year, six out of the seven incidents reported statewide occurred in Maui waters.

The most recent fatal shark attack occurred in December 2013, after Seattle resident Patrick Briney suffered a bite to his right calf while fishing from a kayak about 900 yards off Makena's shore. Just four months earlier, 20-year-old German visitor Janna Lutteropp had her right arm bitten off about 50 yards offshore Makena. She died in a hospital a week later.

The unprecedented spike in the number of Maui shark attacks in 2013 prompted the state to commission an $186,000, two-year study that tracks tiger shark movements around Maui by the University of Hawaii. So far, 24 sharks have been fitted with satellite tracking devices that allow the public to follow their movements online at oos.soest.hawaii.edu/pacioos/projects/sharks.

Lead researcher Carl Meyer said last week that the University of Hawaii research team hopes to recover some of its tracking receivers and tag additional sharks but is waiting for the right weather conditions.

Meyer said in an interview last year that he expects to publish formal findings of the study by this fall.

* Eileen Chao can be reached at echao@mauinews.com. Chris Sugidono can be reached at csugidono@mauinews.com.