Rock fishing safety alert after drownings

12.05.2010

THE worst drowning

tragedy in NSW in more

than 20 years has prompted

calls for a major crackdown

on rock fishing safety.

Relatives flew from Hong

Kong to Sydney yesterday to

comfort David Poon and

grieve for the loss of his

father Po, 63, his mother

Delphine, 61, his brother

Dillon, 25, and two friends,

a 56-year-old man and his

partner, 58.

The group had been on

their weekly fishing trip to

Catherine Hill Bay, south of

Newcastle, on Sunday afternoon

when they were swept

into the water by powerful

waves. Locals Sharon and

Andrew Bourke spotted the

group walking towards the

rock platform from where

they went missing.

"We were talking about

how big the swell was when

we went home and I actually

said, `Mark my words, someone

would have been

washed off the rocks today',"

Mrs Bourke said.

"It's weird to think that we

saw them walking to their

doom."

Mark Kulmar, a wave expert

at the Manly Hydraulics

Laboratory, said wave action

off the NSW coast on Sunday

was more powerful and

dangerous than normal.

Surf Life Saving Central

Coast CEO Chad Griffith

said rock fishing was overdue

for reform.

"We're constantly updating

our policies and procedures

when it comes to

beach safety but when it

comes to rock fishing nothing

has ever changed," he

said. He called on the Government

to make life jackets

compulsory, and to consider

other safety measures like

harness lines and rock

spikes.

Police found one of the

bodies on Monday afternoon,

and specialist divers

located three more bodies in

close proximity yesterday.

Authorities don't believe

that the fifth missing person

- Mrs Poon - could have

survived.