The search for a missing Northam couple who failed to return from a fishing trip near Albany has been turned into a missing persons case.
Victoria McCloy, 22, and Geoffrey Bignell, 20, travelled from Northam to Bald Head last Friday morning.
Ms McCloy made contact with family that evening to advise them they had arrived safely.
They were due to arrive back in Northam on Sunday afternoon or evening, however they failed to return which family indicated was out of character.
A concerned family member travelled to Bald Head and located the vehicle the missing pair had driven there, a black 2-door Holden Barina, however was unable to locate either of the missing pair.
Police were alerted to the situation on Monday morning and a search operation was commenced.
Speaking to the media on Thursday, local police District Superintendent Ian Clarke said after conducting a peer review it was determined that officers had done everything they could to try and locate the couple.
The search was suspended yesterday afternoon and will move into a search and recovery mission.
Superintendent Clarke said the search would not end, with police divers travelling to the site on Sunday to conduct searches.
"We will now move into the process of creating a missing persons file as we can't confidently say what has happened," he said,.
"However, all of the information we have and the evidence that we have located during the course of the search would strongly indicate that Tori and Geoff were fishing on rocks.
"We believe there was a four-metre swell - what happened from there we can't definitively tell."
The search for the couple has involved Police, DFES Volunteer Marine Rescue Service, SES Search Teams, Fixed Wing Aerial Spotter Plane, Albany Surf Life Saving Jetski Rescue Unit and DBCA Rangers.
