After 60 years, Surf Life Saving patrols have been pulled out of two North Shore beaches, one the site of drownings, because of inadequate funding.
The Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Board has provided Surf Life Saving Northern Region with $36,000 on top of its $1.2 million funding, however, this has not been enough to cover costs.
Surf Life Saving Northern Region chief executive Matt Williams, told Stuff that lack of funding meant coastal researchers were required to do a “risk analysis” on swimming locations in Auckland.
This was to ensure that beaches with the highest risk were to continue being patrolled.
“We asked an external coastal researcher to perform a risk analysis on all the Auckland swimming locations that we patrol. We asked ‘Where has the most population access? Where has the most risk?’ so we would ensure we were where Auckland needed us,” he said.
The assessment showed that Milford and Brown’s Bay on Auckland’s North Shore, were low risk beaches.
“I’d never call any location ‘safe’, but they were the safest, the ones with the lowest risk of drowning and that’s why they were removed.”
Surf Life Savers rescued 13 people from North Shore beaches during Christmas patrolling season in 2016.
“The North Shore has one of the greatest concentrations of life guarding services for a geographic area. I think we really need to acknowledge that,” said Williams.
