NSW angler deaths spark life jacket debate
The death of a second rock fishermen off Sydney's beaches within a week has sparked fresh calls for mandatory life jackets.
Two off-duty lifesavers paddled out to the struggling fisherman in dangerous seas at Lurline Bay, near Maroubra, on Sunday.
Police say the fisherman, aged in his 40s, was with a friend and went into the water to collect a bucket.
Despite desperate attempts to revive the fisherman, he died after the Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter winched him from the water.
The tragedy comes after a rock fisherman died last weekend when he was swept into the ocean on Sydney's northern beaches.
Both anglers were not wearing life jackets.
Sunday's drowning occurred on a notoriously dangerous stretch of rocky coastline in the Randwick council area.
Between 2004 and 2012, according to Surf Life Saving NSW, there were 15 rock fishing deaths along the Randwick coast.
Former Randwick mayor and current councillor Tony Bowen lead a call to the NSW government late last year to force rock fishers to don life jackets.
It's a call he believes needs renewing in light of the recent deaths.
"It definitely does because it is so preventable," he told AAP.
Mr Bowen said Sunday's death occurred between two patrolled beaches.
"That just shows you it's all about getting time to be rescued and that is the problem," he said.
"If you are not a strong swimmer with surf like today, you end up in the water and no life jacket.
"If you can't swim, you have no time and even if you can swim you only have a few minutes."
Surf Life Saving NSW's Andy Kent says emergency services often risk their own safety to rescue people in rock fishing incidents.
"Fishermen need to wear a lifejacket, above all else," he said.
"That way you buy yourself some time until we can get to you."
According to a Royal Life Saving Association report in 2011, the Randwick area represented one third of all rock fishing fatalities in NSW.
The NSW government floated the idea of mandatory life jackets in a discussion paper last year.
