Jared Matthews with signage produced to show the Napier City Council what the people want to improve safety on the beaches off Marine Parade. Photo / Paul Taylor
Jared Matthews with signage produced to show the Napier City Council what the people want to improve safety on the beaches off Marine Parade. Photo / Paul Taylor
A Napier man's brush with the tragedy and near-misses of Napier's Marine Parade coastline is behind his move towards getting improved warnings in place soon as possible.
Jared Matthews responded immediately he heard of the death of a young boy at the water's edge on Friday afternoon, and the firstexamples of the types of signs he wants put in place to warn of dangers in the Marine Parade surf had been produced by Hastings company Sign Central were ready by late Monday afternoon.
He said many of the people who had contacted him had tales of concern about signs already in place – not enough, writing too small, and the wrong colours.
They'd also told of approaches to the Napier City Council calling for improved signs.
On Tuesday, council staff contacted Matthews to say they're keen to work with him in the ongoing steps to improve public awareness of the ocean's unique conditions on the Napier coastline, which have claimed at least seven lives in the last 25 years, including at least four children, aged 7 and under.
A council spokesperson said there were 23 signs in place from Marine Parade Port Entrance to the State Highway 51 Beach Domain south of Marine Parade and Ellison St, along with surf-safety material distributed through motels and the i-Site.
Police pictured at Marine Parade on Friday after an incident in the water led to a five-year-old's death.
It will work with Surf Life Saving clubs and Police to determine if further signs or public messaging are required following Friday's tragedy, with discussions expected with the Pacific Surf Life Saving Club, which has patrolled the more northern stretch of the beach each summer for about 70 years .
"Long-term, we have commissioned a coastal public safety assessment that will be a very thorough analysis of the area and recommendations of what can be done about safety issues there," a spokesperson said. "It is due to be completed by mid-April 2022."
The council installed signs after a spate of incidents in the 1990s and announced it would review the situation after another tragedy early last year.
Matthews moved from Auckland to Napier about nine years ago and said he was unaware of the history of tragedy on the beaches until the confronting experience of watching an attempt to recover a body, as he was working near the Napier War Memorial Centre.
He had since seen other near misses and emergency situations while working close to the beach, and says he wouldn't sleep if he didn't do something and more tragedies happened.
Stressing the urgency heading into the summer holiday period, he said: "You can't tell people what they can and can't do, and you're never going to eliminate the danger, but you can do something to warn of the risks and help minimise them."
The beach, variously from north towards the port to the south towards Awatoto, has a long history of fatalities, rescues and near-misses, with files from Hawke's Bay Today and predecessor the Napier Daily Telegraph revealing at least seven fatalities and numerous rescues since the mid-1990s.
On Monday police released the name of Te Karauna Waihirere Manawa Tua Tahi o Te Ora Tamaiti Te Rangi Issac Jerricoh Warren-Whakamoe, known as Jerricoh and aged 5 when he died on Friday afternoon.
With the matter before a Coroner and inquiries continuing, police said they would not be commenting on the cause in the meantime.
At least four police officers entered the water in a bid to save the child when emergency services were alerted to the incident about 100 metres south of the National Aquarium of New Zealand about 3.30pm on Friday.
A rahui remained in place today asking people not to swim or fish in the area during the period of mourning for the child.
The Pacific life saving club started summer weekend patrols a fortnight ago with flags indicating swim-safe zones daily according to conditions, but it's about 2km from where the boy died.
The patrols go seven-days from next Monday, including 10.30am-6pm on weekdays, to the end of the school holidays at the end of January.
