Diverse communities and young males are being targeted with water safety messages as Victorian lifesavers try to avoid another record summer of drownings.
Life Saving Victoria on Thursday 7 November raised the red and yellow flags, launching its summer patrol season which will run until April.
During the 2023-24 season, lifesavers performed more than 850 rescues but were unable to prevent a record 54 drownings – 27 during the patrol period – as more than 3.7 million people visited Victorian waterways.
Nationally, 99 people lost their lives in waterways during the same period, an increase of 10 per cent on the 2022-23 season.
Ahead of another warm and dry season, Life Saving Victoria chief executive Cath Greaves is warning people to plan their outings and be aware of water safety to avoid tragedy.
“We want people to come and enjoy the water and we don’t want them to be fearful,” she said on Thursday.
Among the drownings were a record number of people from culturally diverse communities and younger males in coastal settings.
In January four people, all of Indian background, died after being pulled from an unpatrolled beach on Phillip Island.
It was the worst single beach tragedy in the state in 20 years.
Two other men from Clyde North’s Indian community drowned in a Gold Coast hotel pool in April when trying to save a child.
Selfies around unpatrolled waterways and alcohol contributed to the 30 per cent increase in deaths among the cohort.
“The messaging is definitely a challenge, and that young cohort in particular, they don’t look at the standard media channels,” Ms Greaves said.
Lifesavers are cognisant of educating diverse communities with people born outside Australia five times more likely to drown than those born in Australia.
The organisation has reached out to more than 30,000 people in the past year with safety messaging and more than 250,000 over the past 17 years.
Drownings in 2023-24 predominantly occurred around unpatrolled waterways, with rips a significant concern.
“Swim between the flags … No one drowns between the flags,” Ms Greaves said.
She urged Victorians to be aware of their fitness and capabilities before entering the water.
