St John Ambulance said another paddle crab fisher nearly drowned at Uretiti on Saturday and had to be rescued from the water. It's believed the man was given CPR by a rescuer.
Mr Brown said Uretiti has become more popular in recent years with the opening up of the nearby Department of Conservation campground while the Bream Bay area as a whole had become a major destination for visitors over summer.
"Uretiti is not necessarily a dangerous beach, but it can change very quickly and conditions can become dangerous," he said.
"It's very popular for crab gathering and I think given the increasing number of people coming to Uretiti that signs, in different languages warning that things can change quite quickly and become dangerous, should go up. They should be put up at every entrance to the beach to let people know."
Mr Brown said the NRC and Whangarei District Council would no doubt discuss the signage issue at the beach, but it was still up to people using beaches to apply some common sense when going into the water.
Whether Uretiti needed a permanent lifeguard patrol over summer was something the two councils would need to discuss with Surf Lifesaving NZ, but funding could be an issue.
Chase Cahalane, from Surf Lifesaving Northern region, urged people not to lay crab pots off Uretiti Beach at this time of the year because conditions were dangerous.
"It's very treacherous at low tide with a deep inshore trough and a deep channel running parallel to the beach so the conditions are not ideal for laying crab pots," he said.
The fact Uretiti Beach did not have flags and was not patrolled by lifeguards made rescues more difficult, he said.
