Whitebaiters put 'lives on the line'

DANGEROUS: Whitebaiters brave angry seas and bad weather near the mouth of Lake Onoke in South Wairarapa last Friday in their haste to land their catch. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

Whitebaiters risked their lives amid foul weather and angry seas at the Lake Onoke mouth near where a Greytown whitebaiter drowned in June, says Water Safety New Zealand head Matt Claridge.

Photographs were taken on Friday of the group of four men, dressed in waders and wet weather gear, who seemed oblivious to conditions while scooping for whitebait.

The men were trawling beyond the breaking surf in a location near where Greytown man Les Wong, 71, had been on August 18 this year. That afternoon he went to "scoop his net into the water, and got swept out of the lake mouth and into the sea", according to witnesses.

Police said a fisherman leaped into the water with a long line and buoyancy aid and swam about a half kilometre before reaching the unconscious man, and bringing him back to shore, where waiting emergency workers fought in vain to revive him.

Mr Claridge was alarmed at the apparent disregard for danger the men were displaying in the images and said the risk they faced had far outweighed any rewards the men may have thought they were seizing.

"It is certainly questionable and unsafe behaviour around water. They were putting their lives on the line for the sake of a bucket or two of whitebait," Mr Claridge said.

"It's not uncommon for a whitebaiter to be in the water but those conditions looked less than ideal for whitebaiting, certainly at a lake mouth like that when there's quite a bit of white water with waves crashing in and the current potentially moving out. It looks really dangerous."

Mr Claridge said he urged whitebaiters and anglers "to stay on dry land wherever possible when it comes to land-based fishing".

"Certainly this wasn't the case on Friday although I know how things work for whitebaiters," he said.

"The difficulty is that they're caught up in the moment and that's when people need to be really clear about just what the risks are. But generally, men in New Zealand under-estimate the risks associated with being around water.

"And if you look at what those guys were wearing, if they got knocked over they would really struggle to regain their footing due to the weight of the clothing they have on," Mr Claridge said. "In all likelihood it would be very difficult to keep your head above water in that gear in those conditions.

"I've seen examples where people have tested wearing a lot of clothes in just flat calm water but that's really wholly different," he said.

"It would be very difficult to muster the strength and the balance to be able to regain your footing, and that's after getting through the shock of cold water. You should never under-estimate the effect of that hitting the body."

The whitebait season for most of New Zealand runs until November 30.