Drive the Great Ocean Road on any day and it is hard not to notice the increasing number of people ocean-fishing from the flat and seemingly harmless rock-shelves that enticingly extend along our southern coastline. How simple the equation … scramble + bait + cast = retrieve! It offers an irresistible ‘tug’ to those who seek to chance their arm – and, unwittingly, their lives – at rock fishing. But beware … those benign-looking rock-shelves are not to be trifled with.
Wikipedia tells us that: “… open-sea fishing from rocky outcrops – an increasingly popular pastime in Australia and New Zealand – claims many lives each year with a total of 158 rock fishing deaths between 2004 and 2017. Of these, 150 (95%) were males with an average age of 45 years.” Further, it records that: “… fishing ranks fourth behind walking, swimming and camping as the most popular participation sport in Australia & New Zealand, beating all and any of cycling, bowling, basketball, golf, tennis, jogging, baseball, softball, soccer, football, and skiing.”
In an article [Sydney Daily Telegraph: 11.10.2013 entitled ‘Rock Fishing: Australia’s deadliest sport’], Vikki Campion described a ground-breaking multilingual NSW Government report that found: “… a ‘striking number of rock fishermen (21%) go fishing alone with half refusing to wear a life jacket. 15% were at ‘serious risk of drowning’, being either unable to swim (8%) or only able to swim for one minute (7%) in swimming-pool conditions, while one third of the 121 fishers surveyed had either been swept off the rocks while fishing or knew somebody who had. 65% agreed that being swept off their feet was likely to result in drowning.”
Tellingly, Campion wrote: “… they go out alone, can’t swim, don’t wear life jackets, and yet acknowledge that a large wave sweeping them off their feet would result in death.”
Of the rock fishermen surveyed in the New South Wales study “… fully one third spoke Chinese, either Mandarin (18 per cent) or Cantonese (15 per cent) and 20 per cent spoke Korean” … suggesting that surf education, multilingual signage and the increased funding to support recreational fishing should be ‘safety essentials’.
A thoughtful reminder entitled: “Waves from distant storms: a fatal combination for Australia’s rock fishers” recently appeared on the Bureau of Meteorology blogsite (1). It began with: “ … it’s a beautiful calm day on the coast, sun glinting off the water, a cool breeze blowing in from the sea. Perfect fishing weather – or so you would think …”
It goes on to remind us that: “… the sea may appear calm to a group of rock fishermen when they arrive at the carpark near their local rock fishing spot. But within the waves, a killer lurks: a giant ocean swell, spawned by a storm hundreds of kilometres out in the Pacific, is generating powerful waves that arrive in irregular ‘sets’ – swamping beaches and rock platforms, and posing a deadly threat to the rock fishermen.”
‘Sets’ are a life-force for surfing, usually comprising 3-10 waves per set. Surfers learn to read ‘sets’ and to count waves. In small-numbered sets, the third is usually ‘it’, while in longer sets, traditionalists claim pre-eminence for the seventh. While there IS no certain rule, rogue waves – out of sequence – can always also surprise. But sets are frequently ignored by fishermen, especially if intent on baiting a hook, or freeing a line from a forest of kelp. A fisherman, back turned to a perfidious sea, bending over an equipment basket and oblivious to the sucking retraction that signals an advancing giant, is all too often a familiar sight.
While a large and growing number of fatal rock-fishing incidents have recently involved members of the Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese communities, and while both the Bureau of Meteorology and Surf Life Saving Australia websites [among many others] now offer safe rock-fishing tips in several Asian languages, it is one thing to publish on a website, but entirely another to ensure the tips are read and followed.
Extending this thought, and while the Victorian Fisheries Authority website [vfa.vic.gov.au] doescontain safety advice, it is submerged within an extensive site, no safety ‘tag’ appears on the home page, and the safety information appears in English only. Could we do better? … it seems so!
Meanwhile, some published rock-fishing tips [also only in English] include:
- Check local water, tide, and weather conditions before you go.
- Always tell friends or family where you are going and when you will be returning.
- Never fish alone.
- Wear footwear with non-slip soles.
- Wear a personal flotation device [and not an inflatable device that could be punctured by jagged rocks].
- Carry safety gear and a first-aid kit.
- Wear light clothing that will allow you to swim if you are washed in.
- Don’t wear waders when rock or ledge fishing.
- Seek out local advice on your intended fishing spot – tides, surf behaviour, and accessibility.
- Observe first and fish later. Take time to judge your intended spot before fishing to get an idea of tidal and sea conditions plus access and escape routes.
- Always obey danger signs and never trust access and escape aids such as ropes and makeshift steps.
- Have an escape plan. If the swell threatens your position, leave immediately.
- Never turn your back on the sea. Learn to read the ocean.
- Watch the sea at all times – conditions can change quickly.
- If you see an in-water emergency, dial 000 and ask for Police.
So … as yet another summer rolls round, and our Surfcoast thoughts naturally turn back to the dangers of fire, it is opportune to remind those who would chance their arms [and lives] from our rock shelves of the vagaries and unpredictability of ocean swells. It is one thing to demand a licence to fish, but fully another to ensure that it does not become a licence to die.
(1) http://media.bom.gov.au/social/blog/300/waves-from-distant-storms-a-fatal-combination-for-australias-rock-fishers/
John Agar
