Lifesavers back on patrol
As WA reels from another tragic shark attack on our shores, oceangoers can take some reassurance from the return of weekend lifeguard patrols on Perth beaches.
Several hundred volunteer surf lifesavers will patrol most metropolitan beaches from this weekend, while Surf Life Saving WA's helicopter will continue its daily coastal surveillance.
Most surf lifesaving club beach patrols will not start in the South West until December, though daily aerial patrols will start earlier on November 24 this year after the State Government decided to scrap its drum-line plan.
SAFETY FIRST FOR SURF VOLUNTEERS
This week's horrific mauling of Sean Pollard at an Esperance beach comes as Surf Lifesaving WA's membership reaches a record 20,019, recovering from a dip after the spate of fatal shark attacks.
SLSWA community safety manager Chris Peck said he believed the dip came partly from parents hesitant to register their children for surf lifesaving after seven shark attack deaths in three years.
"Those who chose to stay away, my guess is that they're probably back," he said.
"I'm imagining that the membership numbers we're seeing are because some people have returned."
Mr Peck said that during 2012 and 2013's cluster of fatal shark attacks, SLSWA tried to push the message that patrolled beaches were the safest places to venture into the ocean in WA.
But despite the risks posed by sharks and drowning, WA beach users are swimming at patrolled beaches less and less.
"This is not a battle that we're winning," he said.
"There are tracks of coast-line right up from the South West up to the north at Two Rocks where residential subdivisions are being opened up by property developers who are providing access to the coastline like we've never had before."
Mr Peck said people were choosing to go to unpatrolled, quieter beaches nearer their homes at their peril, with most drownings happening between 1km and 5km from a patrolled beach.
Seventeen people drowned off WA beaches in 2013-14, up from 13 in 2011-12, and Mr Peck fears increased migration into WA is behind the rising death toll.
"Thirty years ago you could rely on all community aspects, whether you're at school, vacation swim program or even your own parents, to build that culture of beach safety," he said.
"People aren't necessarily being born in Australia and, therefore, having that culture in them. I think there is a level of ignorance about their awareness of the dangers and the hazards of what they need to do.
"They haven't been exposed to that understanding."
Seven people have drown-ed along the coastline of Wanneroo, an area with a high proportion of migrants, since 2005, and 71 per cent of them were born overseas.
This summer, SLSWA is pushing its Beachsafe campaign hard in Wanneroo, with a target to speak to 25,000 people about their coast, the best and safest beaches and areas to avoid.
But for everyone, the return to the ocean after winter can be hazardous.
Mr Peck said, apart from surfers who had maintained their aquatic fitness over winter, people became rusty in their ocean skills, or "winterised", after months on dry land.
"They either underestimate its impact or they overestimate their fitness and capability," he said.
A case in point played out two weeks ago when Perth basked in an unseasonable 34C. Three jetski drivers rescued 167 people who got into trouble in a 2.5m rising swell at Scarborough beach that day.
"They simply weren't ready, weren't aware and hadn't put enough thought into collecting sufficient information before going down," Mr Peck said. The first and foremost factors people should consider before entering the ocean were the conditions and whether there were any rips, he said.
"You have significant probability of drowning in a rip than being eaten by a shark," he said.
