Mayor Neil Reilly has thanked our Council lifeguards and volunteer surf lifesavers, for their efforts during the 2021/22 patrol season.
“Despite the challenges of COVID and severe weather, our summer lifeguards and their volunteer colleagues still had their hands full managing 420 patrol days across our seven beaches,” Cr Reilly said.
“While the season saw a 15% drop in beach goers, our lifeguards still had to keep an eye on more than 304,000 visitors while on patrol.”
The newly released Lifeguard Season Report 2021/22 attributes the drop in beach attendance both on the poor weather and a significant jump in beach closures, due to storms and floods.
On a positive note, the drop in beach visits meant fewer incidents, rescues and first aid treatments.
Seven Mile Beach at Gerroa remains our most popular beach with more than 2,800 visitors a day, Jones Beach the quietest with 400 daily.
Our lifeguards (and lifesavers) were able to operate despite COVID impacts at Christmas and early January.
COVID did however prevent the normal surf education awareness program prior to summer.
