Wear a life jacket, rescue groups urge WA fishers

The hard-hitting video, released on social media this week by the Albany Sea Rescue Squad and the Albany Life Saving Club, begs fishers to don life jackets, with one member saying they’ve never rescued or recovered someone who was wearing one.

The video ends with a graphic choice for fishers; wear a jacket, or risk coming home in a bodybag.

The group’s frustration comes after a trial of compulsory life jacket use at Albany’s Salmon Holes rock-fishing platform failed to convert into mandatory use for rock fishers at high-risk locations in the state.

WA is currently gearing up for the annual salmon run, with the Easter long weekend the unofficial start of the season for targeting the fish. The state’s salmon are highly prized by anglers, growing to much larger sizes than they do in the waters off the eastern part of Australia.

The annual salmon run is big money for the state, reeling in an estimated $331 million to the WA economy each year, the government has estimated.

The state has recorded 40 drownings since 2004 due to rock fishers being swept off their platform by rogue waves.

Late last year the Mark McGowan-led government announced it would spend $560,000 on recreational fishing safety initiatives targeting rock fishing, diving for abalone and rock lobster, and spearfishing.

“Additionally, 75 angel rings, more than 100 rock anchor points and 1000 safety signs have been installed at high-risk rock fishing locations across the state,” the government said in a statement announcing the extra safety funding.

“The loan lifejacket program was also expanded, offering 176 free loan lifejackets across 23 locations between Quobba and Esperance.”

However, no move was made to consider mandating the use of life jackets at any of the state’s high-risk rock-fishing locations.

Recfishwest, the state’s recreational fishing lobby that consults with the government, states in its strategic policy that while life jackets are important, “it should be your last line of defence, not your first”.

However, the group has argued strongly against the case for making life jacket use compulsory.

“Recfishwest currently does not support legislation mandating the wearing of lifejackets while fishing from rocks,” it said in a position statement released in 2018.

“We will consider the compulsory wearing of lifejackets under certain circumstances and certain locations, however we do not believe a statewide blanket approach is appropriate.

“We believe education offers greater long term positive safety outcomes than legislation.”

Meanwhile, Albany’s rock fishing platforms have already claimed another victim earlier this year after an 18-year-old man – believed to have not been wearing a life jacket – was swept off rocks at Mermaid Beach. His fishing partner, also washed in by the rogue wave, was pulled from the water.

The 2020 Surf Life Saving Australia rock fishing coastal safety brief shows that 37 people have died in WA while rock fishing in the 15-year period from 2004, the second-highest number in Australia behind NSW, which recorded 126 deaths over the same period.

The lack of a life jacket was attributed to four out of every five of the fatalities recorded over the period.

“Rock fishing is a popular activity with an estimated 1.1 million rock fishers on Australian coasts and has been dubbed the most dangerous sport due to a high risk of injury, drowning and immersion,” the report warned.

“Rock fishing is ranked as the third-highest cause of coastal drowning deaths, after swimming/wading and boating, and remains a significant focus for coastal safety research initiatives in Australia.”

A coronial inquest in 2015 recommended mandatory and enforced life jacket use for rock fishers, with only NSW so far mandating their use in recognised high-risk hotspots.