Children learn basic water‑survival skills as part of the Aquatic Survival Skills programme. Photo / Kent Horner
The coastlines and waterways that define Bay of Plenty summers have also been revealed as some of the nation’s most hazardous drowning areas.
Water Safety New Zealand’s 2025 Drowning Report identifies Mount Maunganui and Pāpāmoa as a single high‑risk blackspot, with 46 recorded drownings between 1980 and 2025 – surpassed only by Auckland’s west coast beach Piha and the Waikato River.
There were nine drownings in the Bay of Plenty last year alone. Three deaths occurred in coastal waters, three in tidal areas, one offshore, one in a river and one in a pool. Swimming was the leading activity involved, followed by slips and falls.
Water Safety New Zealand says the biggest danger lies in open water.
General manager of partnerships and funding Gavin Walker said beaches and rivers felt familiar, but their hidden hazards could catch people off guard.
The Kiwi attitude of “it won’t happen to me” left many people unprepared for the realities of open water.
Swimmers often did not realise how quickly conditions could change, he said, and survival could depend on how they reacted in those first unexpected moments.
Walker said New Zealand had made significant progress in the past decade, and the drowning risk for young people had halved thanks to improved water‑survival education.
But he warned the biggest threat to continued progress was complacency.
“Reduced drownings will only continue if we can sustain, preferably increase, effort in water‑survival‑focused education. This requires ongoing investment and focus.”
Walker said Water Safety New Zealand last year found that fewer than a third of New Zealand 10‑year‑olds could keep themselves afloat for two minutes.
In high‑risk regions like Tauranga, Walker said he encouraged parents to take an active role in water-survival education.
“If you are choosing a learn‑to‑swim programme, ask the swim school to show you how water survival is incorporated.”
Across the region, thousands of children attend swimming lessons each year. Yet instructors say a critical gap remains.
Claire and Kent Horner, who work across the Aquatic Survival Skills Trust and BaySwim, said many children could swim lengths in a pool but would struggle in real‑world conditions.
“Swimming from A to B is not the same as knowing how to survive.”
Andrea Sinden, director of Tauranga Swim School, said she was seeing the same trend.
“Skills like treading water, swimming distance, removing clothing in water, and managing fatigue are far weaker than basic techniques.”
Stefan Swanepoel, site manager at Pāpāmoa’s Fulton Swim School, spent many years working in competitive swimming and surf lifesaving pathways.
He said moving into the learn‑to‑swim space had reinforced how important early foundational skills were in strengthening children’s water confidence.
“If children build good water awareness and survival skills early on, it can make a huge difference later in life.”
The swim school has also gifted more than $1500 in swimming lesson vouchers to local schools across Pāpāmoa, Mount Maunganui and Welcome Bay to help expand access to swimming opportunities for children.
Coastguard New Zealand chief executive Carl McOnie said the same preventable factors appeared again and again.
He said water‑safety education mattered just as much as physical skill.
Too many incidents stemmed from basic mistakes: people headed out on the water without sharing their plans, skipped wearing life jackets and did not take waterproof communication devices.
“Evidence shows that 12 lives could have been saved last year if people had worn a life jacket.”
Education bridged the gap between poolside confidence and understanding how easily open water could overpower even seasoned swimmers.
“It’s not just one silver bullet,” McOnie said.
“We need education, we need strong prevention processes, and we need the right legislation.”
Water Safety New Zealand reported in November that ACC’s withdrawal of $1.1 million in funding meant roughly 20,000 children would miss out on school water‑safety education.
This ended a 20‑year partnership that the organisation credited with having reduced New Zealanders’ drowning risk by 25% since 2005.
However, ACC deputy chief executive Renée Graham said ACC’s data showed no measurable reduction in drowning‑related injury claims, which informed its decision to end the funding.
A statement provided by ACC said it had made the “difficult decision” to end its partnership with Water Safety NZ in March 2026.
It would redirect its investment to areas with ”greater potential for claim reduction" while continuing to support water‑safety efforts through other programmes and sector partners.
“ACC has been investing around $1m a year in water safety ... Despite this, ACC has not observed a measurable reduction in drowning injury claims, which cost around $3m yearly.
“To ensure the long-term sustainability of the scheme, we need to focus our investment where the potential for claim reduction is greater.”
The statement said ACC remained committed to preventing harm in and around the water and it would continue to support the sector through the Have a Hmmm programme, in partnership with Water Safety NZ and other sector stakeholders such as Maritime NZ, Surf Life Saving NZ and Surfing NZ.