DANGEROUS water spots at Urunga will come onto the radar of a coastal risk assessment project, when a research meeting open to the community is held on Saturday.
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Surf Life Saving NSW’s Project Blueprint is a statewide initiative that aims to help reduce coastal drowning deaths by assessing every beach and rock platform in NSW.
More than 350 people have drowned in NSW since 2004 and while the incidents have been varied, the vast majority are people caught in rip currents while swimming, or swept from rocks while fishing, and almost all occur at unpatrolled locations or outside patrol hours.
Project Blueprint is an initiative supported by Urunga Surf Club president, Vanessa Nugent, who gave the Courier-Sun an indication to some worrying and dangerous local hot-spots.
“Our main concerns, as the marine rescue service in this area, are the river mouth and unpatrolled area at Urunga Beach,” Vanessa said.
“We have many people fishing off rocks along the break-wall, fishermen crossing the bar in their boats to fish offshore, and the boardwalk leading people to the unpatrolled and unpredictable conditions of Urunga Beach. There is real potential for drowning incidents in these areas, however, there have been no recorded deaths in the last decade.”
Vanessa said the local surf club is trained to deal with situations as they arise, and education is the key to a safer water environment.
“We had two incidents last season that required our assistance and thankfully the outcome was successful for both,” Vanessa said.
“We run a large junior surf life saving club that teaches water safety and surf confidence to children from five years to 14 in a safe beach environment. The skills that these children learn stay with them for life and impact upon the surf education level of our community.”
* A public consultation forum for the shire will be held at the Bellingen Senior Citizens Centre (33 Hyde St, Bellingen) on Saturday from 2 to 3.30pm.