Education and patrols keep crab fishers safe in Northland

Senior Sergeant Martin Geddes and a team of volunteers with support from local businesses have been driving home the safety message to crab fishers on the Ruakaka coastline. Photo / File

A water safety campaign for fishers hunting paddle crabs off Northland's coast seems to be paying off. There have been no deaths this busy summer season on Ruakaka Beach, the scene of many fishing tragedies.

An education approach combined with regular beach patrols by volunteers pushing safety messages seems to have succeeded with all those searching for crabs returning home safely this summer.

Waipu's Senior Constable Martin Geddes has been the major force behind the approach with support from a dedicated team of volunteers and community businesses.

"The feedback from the local and wider community of beach users has been overwhelmingly positive," Geddes said.

"Our ambassadors have noticed a big improvement in the number of crabbers wearing lifejackets and cleaning up after themselves.

"It is clear that the regular patrolling coupled with the education programme that preceded this for two years is making a big difference."

The Bream Bay Beach Safety Ambassador programme was in its third season, set up after a rise in drownings on that stretch of coast in the past six years. It aims to educate, in particular, an increasing number of Asians from Auckland catching paddle crab.

In 2016 the team of ambassadors started to patrol the beach in a buggy allowing them to cover the 12km stretch of coast- from Ruakaka to the Waipu river mouth - quickly.

Sometimes getting to people having difficulty in the water can take too long, with tragic consequences. Thanks to John Deere a gator, or buggy, responded to emergencies and transported beach ambassadors, who educated visitors about the beach dangers and handed out safety pamphlets.

Beachgoers were also encouraged to take their rubbish with them including the remains of bait used to catch the crabs.

Since 2011, three Asian men have died in the surf while setting crab pots. The last death was in November 2015 when a 35-year-old from Auckland drowned after he fell out of an inflatable boat about 400m from shore.