Crab hunters warned of dangerous sand bar

Crab fishermen try their luck at Uretiti Beach, north of Waipu. Photo / Greg Bowker

Fishers wade in waist deep to check pots at Northland beach, despite a storm gouging out deep trough.

Surf rescuers fear a sand bar whipped up by stormy weather on Northland's Uretiti Beach where a crab hunter drowned on Christmas Day will endanger more lives over the holidays.

The 25-year-old was swept out to sea while setting a crab pot, raising concern about the beach's popularity with members of Auckland's Asian community, many unaware of its hidden dangers.

Police say at least eight people got into trouble at Uretiti in the preceding 24 hours, most of whom had been crabbing in the choppy sea.

There is speculation among residents of the beach community north of Waipu that four people of Asian descent killed on Tuesday in a Land Rover that attempted a u-turn in front of a logging truck may have missed a turn-off to the beach and were trying to double back.

The sea was still rough when the Herald visited yesterday, but the beach was far quieter than on Christmas Day, with only half a dozen people using bait pots to fish for crabs.

Most kept close to the water's edge, having heard about the drowning through Chinese media, but one fully clad man was chest-deep while trying to keep tabs on his pot on an outgoing tide.

A woman on the shore, whose husband and children were playing it safer with other families in shallower water, said she had instructed them not to go too far out - even if it meant resorting to supermarket fish for dinner.

"We'll probably have to go to Pak'nSave," she said, as her husband produced a solitary crab from his pot.

She said the beach was popular with Auckland Asians because it was not too far from the city.

Ruakaka Surf Lifesaving Club captain Tania Ahrens said beach-goers were well behaved yesterday, but feared the sand bar left by an easterly storm last weekend could cause more trouble as crowds grew in the build-up to New Year.

The bar stretched south from Ruakaka to Uretiti, which does not have formal surf patrols, although the club makes "drive-bys" when it can.

"There is quite a deep trough in front of the bar so it has made the beach a lot more dangerous," Ms Ahrens said. "It is usually a very gently sloping beach, but it has changed in the past week."

Uretiti Beach Campsite manager Dave Archer, who escorted a Maori elder yesterday to bless the site where the drowned man's body washed up, said he was concerned about people putting out pots on an incoming tide and then returning to check them an hour or so later when the water was chest high.

He understood police were suggesting that Chinese-language signs be put up, but he could not comment on whether the Department of Conservation, as the owner of the campsite, should be responsible for doing so.