The primary rescue agency on the water, the local unit plays an integral role in ensuring those who go out on the water in boats, yachts and jetskis return home safe.

Greg Davies, unit commander for Marine Rescue Port Macquarie said it had been a slower than average year for them but hoped it was due educational messages sticking with people.

“Usually we do around 100 call outs each year so to do half of that is definitely a slow year,” Mr Davies said.

“In 2018 we were really focused on getting safety messages out there especially when it comes to people remembering to log on with us when they go out on the water and it seems to be working.

“Over the year our radio base at Town Beach recorded 13,065 log ons for 7,790 people heading out on the water.

“However they overlook the bar and know that around 40 percent of boat users do not log on with us. This is something we are going to be focusing on again this year.

“In particular two rescues we did in the ocean last year were to people who didn’t log on and it was difficult to pinpoint where they would be.

“We spent half the day on the water searching for them but if they had logged on we would have had a better idea of where to start.”

Mr Davies said despite the downturn in 2018, 2019 is already looking at being a busy year for the unit.

“In January alone we have already had 4 rescues and had more than 800 people log on with us via Chanel 16,” he said.

“During the major holidays last year the weather wasn’t particularly great which is why we think less people headed out to sea but over the summer holidays things have been picking back up.

“We also acknowledge the local boating community who do a great job and work with us to keep people safe.

“More generally over the year as a unit we had lots of training with a number of our crew members qualifying as skippers, leading crew and crew along with training in the radio base and expanding our fundraising efforts.

“We also got a second jetski making us one of the largest units in NSW.”

He said over the Christmas period the unit were out on patrol Friday, Saturday and Sunday for five weeks educating and assisting boat users.

“We decided to do things a little differently this year and had active patrols three days a week during the intense summer holidays.

“This was a great success and in one instance we were able to rescue and return a boat in need of help in the river in less than eight minutes because we were already on the water.

“We take our job of saving lives on the water very seriously and look forward to doing it all again in 2019.”

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