Northland has bucked a national trend toward fewer drownings.
There were 12 drownings in Northland last year, two more than the previous year, making the region the third worst in the country.
Provisional national figures show 110 people drowned in New Zealand last year, the lowest since records began in 1980.
However, Northland's drowning toll has hovered around the same level, disproportionately high for its population, Water Safety New Zealand executive director Alan Muir said.
"Geographically Northland's probably still above what it should be. The whole of the Auckland area had 18 deaths, the Waikato area had 13 - Northland is the third highest group in the country," Mr Muir said.
"If you look at most of the other major areas, most of the regions have actually reduced from the previous year, except for Northland."
The region, with its 1700km-long coastline and multiple inland waterways, had about 12 drownings per annum for the last few years, peaking at 18 in 1995 and dropping as low as 10 deaths in 2003.
"It's relatively high, but then Northland has a very long coastline and there're many variables - you have sheltered waters then you have the open-type waters on the west coast," he said. Mr Muir said all the drownings in Northland last year were male, compared to 78 percent nationally.
This was due to a higher male participation rate in the activities contributing to drowning statistics, plus a degree of over-confidence, he said.
One improving aspect was that only two Maori were among the North's fatalities last year, and only one in 2003.
Prior to that, Maori had made up about 40-50 percent of the region's drownings.
Three of Northland's drownings last year came from swimming, snorkelling, and net fishing respectively, while two came from boating incidents - one on a dinghy and one on a launch. Northland contributed two of the country's six kayaking-related drownings, one other drowning was attributed to an immersion accident, and another was deemed a suicide.
Two commercial fishermen died after the 15-metre tuna boat Iron Maiden sank off Spirits Bay in August.
The death of a Swiss tourist after a light plane crashed into the sea off Cable Bay last month also contributed to the drowning toll.
As well as resulting from a variety of activities, the deaths occurred in a broad range of ages, from 14 to 75, Mr Muir said.
"There's no one single area where we can say `hey, there's an issue', based on last year's statistics," he said.
"It's a matter of vigilance and matching your skill levels to the situation you're going into."
North drowning tally high
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