KEY POINTS:
Emergency flotation rings were yesterday fitted to rocks at Bethells Beach, west of Auckland, including at a spot where two men drowned on December 18.
Auckland Regional Council park ranger Stu Leighton, who is overseeing a joint-agency rock fishing safety campaign, said the "angel rings" were installed at The Cable and The Blow Hole near O'Neils Beach.
It is intended to put the rings at eight west coast fishing spots where people have been washed off the rocks and drowned.
Four people drowned on that coast this year, bringing the number to 22 in the past decade.
Mr Leighton said the rings were on a two-year trial to prove their worth in remote spots as a back-up to an education programme.
Surf lifesaving club members advised where the rings went and would maintain them.
The rings can be thrown to an angler washed off rocks by the waves and hauled in with an attached rope.
Rings are installed at Whatipu, Muriwai, Piha, Bethells and on January 12 will also be at Karekare and Whites Beach, which is north of Piha.
