Rescuers ready but warn anglers against complacency
Rescue volunteers are bracing themselves for the potential grim reality of being called to Albany's coastline to retrieve a rock fisherman who has perished after failing to acknowledge the coastal risks this Easter.
While authorities are set to team up in a collaborated effort to warn anglers of the coastal safety risks at the known notorious Salmon Holes this weekend, Albany Sea Rescue operations co-ordinator Chris Johns believes the true danger may lie elsewhere along the south coast.
There have been 10 recorded deaths at Salmon Holes in the past 32 years, the last being 66-year-old Perth man Roland Fernandes in May 2013, but the two most recent rock fishing deaths on the south coast occurred at Two Peoples Bay and Nanarup last year.
"The danger for this weekend is all the focus that's on the Salmon Holes is going to make people diffuse elsewhere," Mr Johns said.
"Two of most recent recoveries we have had have not been at the Salmon Holes, they have been at two of the most innocuous areas which just bares the point of what I just said, people will go elsewhere because they don't like the focus which has been brought on here.
"There is no infrastructure there, people don't wear personal flotation devicess there, they are further away from civilisation and mobile phones don't work there."
The frustration in Mr Johns' words is apparent when witnessing anglers fishing from the rocks without wearing PFDs this week.
But his frustration is nothing new.
Sea Rescue labelled Monday morning at Salmon Holes a "glass off" - a crystal-clear day, no rain or wind and with it comes complacency.
"Here we have a multitude of agencies trying to improve this area and there is rock bolts up there, which is a simple device, but we have three guys up there not even using them and I can't even see a PFD on any of them," Mr Johns observed aboard the vessel, which has retrieved an uncountable amount of bodies.
"The really sad part is that probably three of the recoveries that stick in my mind it was an absolute glass off and I think that's what got people; they just thought there is no way when you look at something that looks like a swimming pool, there is no way this can affect us and that's what gets them."
The Albany Surf Life Saving Club emergency response team has formed an alliance with Sea Rescue in recent years and co-ordinator Pat McSweeney said he hoped for a trouble-free long weekend.
"This time of year is the busiest for us; we just want people to stop and think about their own safety," he said.
"It's a numbers game; the more people on the rocks, the higher the risk."
This weekend marks the four-year anniversary since Afghani refugee Mohammad Reza Mirzaie, 18, slipped off the rocks and drowned while fishing with family and friends.
Last Easter, the Albany Offshore Boating and Fishing Club recorded more than 2900 visitors to Salmon Holes, and similar numbers are expected this weekend.
The Department of Parks and Wildlife, Department of Fisheries, City of Albany, Recfishwest, South Coast Natural Resource Management and community volunteers are collaborating to improve the management of the popular fishing spot.
