A new series of vital rock fishing safety and skills programs has launched with great success on the Central Coast, with Surf Life Saving NSW’s Gone Fishing program running the first of nine coastal and in-community workshops at Avoca Beach on 19 July.
Delivered through funding support from the NSW Government, participants received critical safety advice, resources, and took home a FREE, top-of-the-line life jacket to keep them safe for future visits to the coastline.
A beautiful, sunny day at Avoca Beach greeted what was well in excess of 300 participants, family and friends, where practical sessions like the live CPR demonstration and in-water rescue exercise were major highlights.
The program has been brought back for the first time since 2023 after two years of persistent tragedies and increased rescues of rock fishers on the NSW coastline, with the last two seasons reporting jumps of 30% in rock-related coastal drownings (from 10 up to 13).
“I signed up for this course to help my community and all my friends with safety in the water,” participant, Ernesto, who travelled from Hornsby said.
“A topic that was quite interesting to me was about life jackets, I didn’t know that different ones have different uses,” Vee from Sydney said.
“My husband fishes all the time and I wanted to come and learn how he can do it safely.”
“I brought my family here to know more about the safety side,” Romel from Wyoming, a local suburb, said.
“It’s very important to make going rock fishing safer. This is my second time coming to this program and it’s been an amazing experience.”
The first Gone Fishing program delivered 10 coastal safety sessions that were hosted at locations across NSW, including North Bondi, Shellharbour, Port Kembla and Port Stephens.
In all, 3,737 people were directly engaged through these sessions and almost 20,000 people were reached in total through educational material, videos and factsheets. More than 90 different languages were represented and 1,100 free life jackets were properly fitted and taken home by workshop participants.
This year, across six coastal and three in-community workshops, and through an expanded suite of offerings including advanced practical in-water classes, educational stalls at expos and events, and early childhood and adult education sessions, it’s anticipated Phase 2 of the program will reach as many as 16,000 people face-to-face and 35,000 in total.
Additionally, 1,500 free life jackets and 23,000 safety and multilingual resources will be distributed.
“We’re so excited to be off the ground and have started with such a great day at Avoca Beach,” Gone Fishing Project Lead, Emily Cook said.
“It’s been a long time in the making, there’s been a lot of resources pooled into this project and there are a lot of stakeholders who are part of the day and help us deliver the safety messages.
“The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development funds the project but also presents on safety gear, Maritime through Transport NSW gives a demo on life jacket maintenance and safety, and we’re so grateful to our amazing ambassadors, Hadi and Spyros who do sessions on rock fishing skills and tips and tricks on coastal conditions and risk assessment.”
The next Gone Fishing Rock Fishing Safety Program is in Canterbury Bankstown at the Yagoona Community Centre on Saturday 26 July and is booked out with more than 220 people registered.
Tuesday 22 July 2025
