Surf Lifesaving patrol season opens Labour Weekend

Surf Lifesaving clubs will be back to their regular summer patrols from Labour Weekend.

The Surf Lifesaving patrol season officially begins at Labour Weekend and as the weather warms up and people start to think about hitting the beach, lifeguards are calling for caution.

Clubs from Mount Maunganui beaches will begin their voluntary patrols at Labour Weekend and patrols will roll out across the rest of Bay of Plenty in the next month.

Surf Life Saving New Zealand chief executive Paul Dalton said most drownings occurred at unpatrolled beaches.

There were eight drownings at beaches in January alone, just under the total number of beach drownings for all of 2014.

Overall, 90 people - mostly men and including eight pre-school children - drowned in New Zealand last year.

None of those were at patrolled beaches and at the 80 patrol locations around the country.

Last month, water safety organisations joined together to develop a collaborative plan to address New Zealand's high drowning toll - setting ambitious new targets in the process.

Mr Dalton said it was time the public realised just how serious New Zealand's drowning toll was.

"It's sad because the beach is New Zealand's favourite playground but it can also be extremely dangerous.

"If people can change their 'she'll be right' attitude towards surf safety, so they don't underestimate the risks and overestimate their own abilities, then we will be on our way to helping reduce drowning on our beaches."

Traditionally, the Surf Lifesaving patrol season began at Labour Weekend and continued to Easter.