Lifejackets and scare tactics may not be best way to save lives of rock fishers

BY CHRISTOPHER HARRIS

For many, it would have been overwhelming to see someone drowning from their lounge room.

Not for father and son duo, Graham and Lucas Toms, members of South Maroubra SLSC, who quickly attempted to rescue a man who had been fishing off the rocks near their house last year.

The pair got to the man with a rescue board and a rescue tube. But by then, the rock fisherman had died. On Wednesday, the pair was awarded with a medal of bravery from the Governor of NSW David Hurley.

Graham Toms said that he spotted the man in distress, but it was his son that took over and led the rescue.

“Lucas surfs, he is a very strong young man, he’s very confident, and he led the way in the whole rescue.”

“When Lucas and myself were isolated with the patient, it felt like hours, but it was probably really ten or 15 minutes until more help arrived.”

Lucas has since been employed as a lifesaver for Randwick Council.

The death of rock fishers in the Randwick Local Government Area is common, with 17 deaths in the last decade. The area has been labelled a black spot for what has been called “Australia’s most dangerous sport.”

Randwick Council as well as the NSW State Government last month moved to curb the rock fishing death toll, which killed 37 people in the last four years in Australia, six of which were in the Randwick LGA.

The state government plans to make it mandatory to wear life jackets while rock fishing in black spot areas, and the local council has installed signs, warning fisher men and women of the number of deaths that have occurred in that spot over the previous year.

But the Shooters and Fishers party is concerned that a blanket rule on wearing life jackets would not necessarily reduce the death toll.

The idea for the signs came after a survey commissioned by the council found that 42 per cent of rock fishers did not know that people had died from the sport in the nearby area.

The signs in Randwick are red, feature a skull and crossbones, as well as a “death scoreboard”, featuring changeable numbers tallying nearby rockfishing deaths.

The signs are translated into both Mandarin and Cantonese as well as Korean, because the survey of rock fishermen by Randwick Council found that one third of all approached either spokes Cantonese of Mandarin and 20 per cent spoke Korean.

“Our research shows that once people are aware of the dangers, they are likely to modify their behaviour by fishing a different ledge, changing their approach, wearing a life jacket, being more cautious or perhaps not fishing that day,” Randwick Mayor Noel D’Souza said in a statement.

The state government is establishing a working party to determine where the black spots will be.

The government said that the new laws will be accompanied by an education campaign which will target culturally and linguistically diverse communities, as well as an advertising campaign and improved warning signs.

“The message to rock fishers continues to be that they should wear a life jacket at all times, wear appropriate clothing and footwear, check conditions including the weather and never fish alone,” Mr Elliott said.

He said the new laws were necessary because warning people of the dangers had proven ineffective.

Malcolm Poole, safety officer for Recreational Fishing Alliance NSW and said he believed that in some cases, mandating the use of a lifejacket could do more harm than good.

He said that there was a lot of variables when it came to best practice for rock fishing, and that simply wearing a life jacket alone would not save lives.

He said if someone intended to go rock fishing, seeing a sign would be unlikely to deter them.

“It’s like roadside graves. Do you slow down, what do we hope to achieve with a scoreboard sign?”

He said there needed to be more focus on education.

“We have to prepare a person before they get to a sign,” he said.

He told City Hub he estimates 50,000 to 80,000 people go rock fishing in NSW every year, although he said fishing from a cliff near the ocean is very different from casting a line out from a rock in the harbour.

He said the problem with life jackets is that there are a variety of different types for specific uses- including inflatable and foam.

Inflatable life jackets can puncture depending on materials used, making them not necessarily suitable for use near jagged rock faces, as well as being difficult to swim in.

While foam life jackets are more durable, they can be hot to wear. He said they are designed to keep people afloat, typically position people vertical in the water.

He said it is a simple process of analysing what might happen and analysing dangerous situations.

At a recent Chinese New Year event in Eastwood, Mr Poole as part of his community activities said Chinese people had been buying what is known as a buoyancy vests from overseas retailers online.

He said the vests, which allow more mobility and have waterproof pockets, haven’t been tested to see if they meet Australian Safety Standards.

The NSW Government is establishing a working party to determine where black spots will be in the next twelve months.