Lifesavers in the Kiama LGA have been hard at work saving the lives of errant swimmers even as beach goers set their sights on international travel.

Kiama Council published a report on Wednesday detailing the efforts of volunteer and casual lifeguards patrolling seven beaches in the LGA between the September 2022 and April 2023 patrol season.

 While the number of beach visitors fell during the season from 304,000 to 260,000, rescues performed by surf lifesavers increased to 116, while preventative actions were taken 6,658 times.

Throughout the season, there were 31 casual lifeguards that operated 405 patrol days across the seven beaches, and another 216 volunteer patrol days from lifesaving clubs in Kiama Downs, Kiama and Gerringong.

The overall number of beach visitors fell by 15.6 per cent during the season, but Seven Mile Beach – the most patronised in the LGA – saw a significant increase in visitors, as well as Easts Beach.

Council says the decrease is due to the normalisation of visitor volumes post COVID as more tourists opt for international travel over domestic.

There was one death, which occurred after patrol hours at Blowhole Point rock pool.

Council also praised the installation of the Emergency Response Beacon (ERB) at South Bombo Beach, a notorious black spot for patrolling. There were 12 rescues at South Bombo, four of which were taken to hospital.

In each of these instances, the ERB was used by the public to quickly communicate with lifeguards at North Bombo to deploy rescue crafts, proving the new system to be invaluable.

ERB systems were also installed at Blowhole Point and Kendalls Beach.

Lifeguards were also able to resume their regular pre-season surf education awareness program for the first time since the pandemic.

The program ran in five primary schools in September, which teaches students how to stay safe in the sun and in the water, how to recognise dangerous conditions and the skills to deal with them.

The biggest offenders on Kiama’s beaches were dog owners, who were responsible for the vast majority of the 755 breaches identified on our beaches.