Middle-age men most at risk of drowning
New data shows Northland had highest fatality rate in country last year
Middle-aged Northland men are being urged to know their limits and not underestimate the water, with the region having the highest drowning rate in the country. Men aged 45 and over are dying most, John-Michael Swannix, Surf Life Saving Northern Region search and rescue supervisor, said. The Beach & Coastal Safety Report, issued by Surf Life Saving NZ (SLSNZ), released today shows that Northland’s eight deaths was the highest rate in the country last year at 4.22 fatal drownings per 100,000 people. This compared with the national average of 0.85 per 100,0000 people and 0.77 for Auckland. Northland’s drowning rate for the last 10 years was 3.04 per 100,000 people. Over that decade 81 per cent of the 57 drownings were men, about half aged 45 and older.
Within the Northland region during 2010-20, the majority of beach and coastal drowning fatalities occurred while swimming/wading (13), followed by using watercraft (11) and net/shell fishing (10).
Most of the deaths were preventable and Northlanders “need to do better”, SLSNZ says.
Swannix said the sea is so important to so many in the region — with nobody more than about 30 minutes from the ocean — but one of the big issues was middle-aged men overestimating their abilities, or underestimating the sea.
“It’s basically a bit of complacency. Another issue with this age group is they are getting into trouble while taking on new activities. We recently had to rescue two new divers at Ocean Beach who had to be rescued off the rocks because they went out in very big swells and they were very inexperienced.
“We had another man relatively new to kayaking, who went out at Waipu¯ and forgot to put the bung in — he needed to be rescued.
“People who are inexperienced will sometimes not know how to really handle jetskis and fall off — or run out of fuel — and need to be rescued.”
Swannix said the water is for having fun, but people need to know their limits and not over-extend themselves.
He said people should only really swim at one of Northland’s six lifeguard patrolled beaches — Ocean Beach, Ruaka¯ka¯, Waipu¯, Mangawhai, Ahipara and Baylys Beach.
Swannix said if coastal communities wanted their surf beaches patrolled they needed to make representations to their local authorities.
Nationally, on average, 36 people drown every year on New Zealand’s coastlines and that figure is on the increase.
SLSNZ chief executive Paul Dalton said the new findings are deeply upsetting, for loved ones of the deceased and for volunteer surf lifeguards who are at the coalface.
“The number of fatal beach and coastal drownings in New Zealand has actually increased by 18 per cent over the past five years compared to the previous five years . . . and our fatal beach and coastal drowning rate is 48 per cent worse, per capita, than Australia’s,” he said.
Dalton says most fatal beach drownings occurred on nonlifeguarded beaches, or outside of patrol hours. Swimming (22 per cent), boating (17 per cent) and falls (17 per cent) made up the majority of activities undertaken at the time that someone fatally drowned. A staggering 87 per cent of victims nationally were male.
Pasifika, Ma¯ori and Asian community members were the most over-represented in fatal drowning figures.
“We can’t have surf lifeguards everywhere, so how are we going to approach this? Who’s responsible? And who’s going to pay for it?” he said.