NINE out of 10 coastal caravan parks in New South Wales are located
adjacent to hazardous surf beaches, according to a new University of New
South Wales study.
About a third of the beaches are completely unpatrolled, with another 61
percent patrolled for less than 25 percent of the time.
The alarming figures indicate that local and international visitors to the
caravan parks at risk of drowning.
They raise important questions regarding the provision of lifeguards on
the beaches, the availability and dissemination of beach safety material
and the duty of care of tourist park operators.
"These stark statistics should be of concern to tourist park operators,
beach users and local governments," study author Associate Professor Rob
Brander, from the School of Biological Earth and Environmental Sciences,
said.
"Our study also shows visitors to the southern region of NSW are possibly
at greater risk due to a higher percentage of unpatrolled and hazardous
beaches.
"To the north of Sydney, about 27 percent of beaches closest to tourist
parks are unpatrolled, while this figure is 50 percent for parks to the
south of Sydney.
"Almost all drownings in Australia occur on unpatrolled beaches, outside
the flags or after patrol hours."
Dr Brander said that on the Queensland coast, all international tourists
who drowned between 1999 and 2004 died in unpatrolled environments.
The study, which lists the details of 231 NSW tourist parks and their
closest surf beaches, is published in the journal Tourism Management.
Researchers, led by Campbell McKay, used hazard ratings from the BeachSafe
website, which rank beaches on a scale of one to 10, based on their
physical features.
There are no specific statistics linking drownings to beaches near tourist
parks.
But Surf Life Saving Australia records show that 50 percent of drownings
occur when a person is more than 50km from their home.
Several tragic events have also occurred in recent years near tourist
parks.
In January, 2010, a mother and father staying at a caravan park in Ballina,
NSW, drowned after saving their two children from a rip current.
The researchers said that while it was impractical to have full-time
patrols at all beaches, new beach safety campaigns, signs and educational
material could be needed to address the risks.
"No standardised beach or coastal safety education material such as
warning signs, brochures or posters, is available to every coastal tourist
park," Dr Brander said.
The researchers also recommend the physical hazard rating system for
beaches be expanded to take into account other factors such as number of
visitors to beaches, how often they are patrolled and the number and
timing of rescues.
