Rock Fishing Safety !

 A roc k shelf on the waterfront at Port Kembla's " Hill Sixty " is notorious for waves sweeping rock fisherfolk into the sea.  In recent times, two such events resulted in the death of several fishermen and there would have been more except for the bravery of police and air rescue crews who risked their own lives to bring victims back to shore.

This rock shelf seems to fascinate many in the rock fishing community.  People specially drive from western Sydney to fish there and it is rare to see them wearing a life jacket or other floatation device, despite the known risk of being swept into the sea.

Now there is parliamentary debate about a law change to maker wearing a safety jacket compulsory for rock fishing and the sticking point seems to be deciding who will police it.  Local councils fear this will be a task for their rangers and become another burden on council finances.

Rock fishing is relatively safe on many parts of the coastline and yet the danger is obvious at places like Hill Sixty.  They need to be designated as requiring the wearing of safety vests and brought under the control of the state police force.

We already have strict laws that determine that similar safety equipment must be worn by people using boats and this compliance is checked by the water police.  Boat users are conditioned to having a police boat pull alongside with a demand to check their safety equipment and it would be reasonable to expect the highway patrol to regularly visit a known danger spot like Hill Sixty to check safety vest compliance.

It is obvious that without forced compliance we will continue to have fishing disasters occurring at dangerous places like Hill Sixty.   Just hours after each recent drownings more rock fisherfolk were trying their luck from the same positions and once again the absence of any sort of safety device was prominent.

Modern safety jackets are cheap - and comfortable.  The better quality ones inflate automatically once they are inundated with water and enable the wearer to survive until rescuers arrive.  The people who spend their leisure time rock fishing spare no expense buying state of the art rods and reels and it is not a big ask to expect them to invest a few more dollars on safety.

It is obvious that nothing will change until safety requirements are subjected to a heavy fine and the sure knowledge that law enforcement will make regular checks of compliance, and that can be shared by both fisheries inspectors and the state police force   

.It seems that what is called the " hip pocket nerve " is the only way to implement mass public safety.  When boat safety regulations came into force the statistics show there were many people fined for violations, and that has dropped sharply as compliance has taken hold.

It will be the same with rock fishing at known danger points.  Once fisherfolk become accustomed to wearing a life jacket it will become an automatic part of their equipment, but until that happens we will continue to have drownings !