Editorial: Uretiti now needs own lifesavers

Uretiti Beach. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Northland's summer beach scene has changed dramatically over the past five years or so.

Camping grounds such as the Department of Conservation's Uretiti camp have become "go to" sites. The sale of privately owned grounds has made DoC's no-frills summer experience more desirable.

Bream Bay now has Ruakaka, Uretiti and Waipu camping grounds, all within a 14km stretch of sandy white beach.

On a busy day, Uretiti numbers swell to about 600 - surely, that has got to rival Ruakaka and Waipu?

The Christmas Day drowning at Uretiti was not a swimmer, as such, but an Auckland-based man of Chinese descent who was crab hunting. In 2011, a crab hunter also died on Christmas Day.

Another crab hunter was rescued at the weekend and resuscitated.

Does Uretiti need its own surf lifesaving patrol?

Those that say "no" point to the crab fishing deaths being isolated cases. You can't put a patrol in just for visitors, they say.

In the "yes" camp is the argument that the crab hunters are beach users, alongside hundreds of other Northlanders and visitors, and it is a matter of time before someone from the DoC camp drowns.

Uretiti has changed - it is now a busy beach and needs its own patrol.

Northland's district and regional councils have funded our beach patrols and this year queried whether the system needs to change.

It does - funding should not be the first thing on the agenda when it comes to considering how to set up a beach patrol at Uretiti.

The reality, though, is that this - and preceding - governments take a curious approach to funding surf lifesaving. It is the domain of local councils, not central government.

So we police the roads, the streets, but not the sea?

Very little money flows into government coffers from misdemeanours on the sea.

So very little flows back. Central government's funding tide is constantly out. It's time for it to turn - and flow towards Surf Lifesaving New Zealand.