Coastal drowning figures grow worse
The number of preventable drownings around the coast has increased in the past five years – a sobering fact for those working hard to save lives.
‘‘That is the real tragedy of it,’’ said NZ Surf Life Saving (NZSLS) chief executive Paul Dalton.
‘‘We are not really getting the problem solved . . . we need to do something else to turn the tide, if you like, of the trend.’’
NZSLS’s national beach and coastal safety report, released yesterday, analysed the data from the past year and the past decade.
It found drownings in coastal zones – tidal waters like estuaries, harbours, marinas, in the ocean up to 1 kilometre offshore, and inland up to five times the width of the inlet or river – increased by 18 per cent over the past five years when compared with the previous five years.
The average drowning rate went from 0.74 per 100,000 people in the fiveyear period from 2010 to 2015, to 0.83 per 100,000 people between 2015 and 2020. In this period, there was an average of 39 drownings per year.
The report also found the majority of drownings in the past 10 years occurred on surf beaches (38 per cent), with swimming, boating and falling the three greatest sources of risk. Out of all the regions, Northland had the highest drowning rate – 3.04 deaths per 100,000, which is nearly five times greater than Auckland. Dalton said the data for Northland encompassed those who holiday there and do not know the water conditions.
Two groups were over-represented in the data – men and Pasifika. Ma¯ ori were close behind. In the past 10 years, 360 people have drowned in a coastal area. Of those, 87 per cent were men.
Dalton said that unfortunately these statistics were ‘‘pretty stable’’ and a reflection of people’s attitudes to water safety.
‘‘[Men] tend to overestimate [their] ability and underestimate the risk considerably compared with females. There is less risk-taking with females and they have a better sense of what they are capable of,’’ Dalton said.
The report also found the Pasifika community had the highest drowning rate of the past decade, with 1.31 deaths per 100,000 people. Ma¯ ori had 1.13 deaths per 100,000 people, with 0.91 deaths per 100,000 for other ethnicities. In one year – between 2019 and 2020 – drownings within the Pasifika community dropped below the 10-year average to 0.79 per 100,000, while all other ethnicities exceeded their respective averages.
Dalton said these figures mainly reflected exposure to coastal environments.
Dr Chanel Phillips, a Ma¯ ori physical education and health lecturer from Otago University, who is Nga¯ ti Hine and Nga¯ puhi, agreed the higher drowning rates among Ma¯ ori and Pasifika were due to more exposure, but this was just one reason.
‘‘We no longer have access to traditional knowledge or tikanga.
‘‘[Higher drowning rates] can stem from a disconnection to the water or a changed relationship.’’
Phillips did not find Pasifika and Ma¯ ori over-representation in this data shocking – ‘‘it was not unexpected,’’ she said – but the fact that it was increasing was alarming. ‘‘Now is the time, we have to do something and we must do better.’’
The data showed there was a need for additional education in this space, Dalton said.
‘‘There is only so much you can do as the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff . . . we really need a big fence at the top,’’ Dalton said. Additional education resources were needed to ensure people were making better decisions at those crucial moments – before jumping off a waterfall or swimming alone in the open ocean, for example.
A collaborative approach was needed to ensure water safety messages were reaching all New Zealanders and were actually being heard. ‘‘The messages are not getting through or being delivered in the right way.’’