8.5 C
Byron Shire
July 8, 2025

Marine Rescue NSW units have busy finish to Autumn

Latest News

Wine shop pegged for Mullum CBD

A retail liquor shop is proposed for the corner of Burringbar Street and Station Street, located opposite the Commonwealth Bank.

Other News

Cartoon of the week – 2 July, 2025

The Echo loves your letters and is proud to provide a community forum on the issues that matter most to our readers and the people of the NSW north coast. So don’t be a passive reader, send us your epistles.

Protect Murujuga from Woodside’s North West Shelf gas plant

The recent decision to approve the extension of Woodside’s North West Shelf gas plant on the site of Murujuga is threatening the longevity of this very sacred site and flies in the face of Labor’s commitments to tackling climate change.

A deathly success

The annual Death & Dying Expo took place on Saturday at Mullumbimby Civic Memorial Hall and was a great success, drawing a large, engaged crowd from across the Northern Rivers.

Another year of free footpath dining for Lismore’s businesses? 

Lismore councillors will be considering waiving footpath dining fees for another year at next Tuesday’s (8 July) Lismore City Council meeting. 

Resident pay parking reduced to $30pa

Pay parking permits for Byron Shire residents will now be reduced from $55 to $30, after councillors haggled over the final number between themselves at Monday’s meeting, the last before the winter break.

Healing from the garden: Mad Mountain

There’s a new face at Mullumbimby Farmers Market, and with her comes a vibrant offering of medicinal and perennial...

Marine Rescue NSW volunteers were involved in 252 rescue missions in May, returning 398 people safely to shore.

Marine Rescue NSW Commissioner Alex Barrell said volunteers were kept busy assisting boaters on the state’s waterways.

‘Despite heading into the cooler months our units right across the state have seen a large number of rescues, over 250 in May alone.

‘It is a reminder for boaters how important it is that they check their equipment before they get out on the water and that they take all the right safety precautions,’ he said.

Commissioner Barrell said 57% of rescue missions in May were a result of mechanical issues.

‘Disappointingly many of the incidents were avoidable like running out of fuel, flat batteries and mechanical/engine issues,’ he said.

38% of the rescue missions were emergency responses and Commissioner Barrell said with the change in season certain situations could become life-threatening for boaters.

‘When boaters breakdown and become disabled in the colder water, it does increase the risk of an incident becoming more serious.

‘With so many rescues seen through May were are urging boaters to make sure that they do check the conditions before they head out and that they check their vessel,’ he said.

The Lake Macquarie Unit on the Hunter/Central Coast was the busiest in May with 44 rescues while volunteers at Botany Port Hacking completed 19.

Marine Rescue NSW radio operators managed 18,266 radio calls over the month with a large portion answered by the Marine Rescue Sydney State Communications Centre.

10 of those calls were MAYDAYs where lives were in imminent danger.

Commissioner Barrell praised the 5,497 boaters who Logged On and Logged Off with Marine Rescue NSW.

‘Through May we saw just under five-and-a-half thousand Log Ons and Log Offs over our free Marine Rescue app or over the VHF marine radio.

‘It is so important that boaters take the opportunity and take advantage of our service to Log On because we know it saves lives and if you do breakdown and don’t return as planned rescue crews will start looking for you,’ Commissioner Barrell said.

Marine Rescue NSW is a volunteer based not-for-profit professional organisation dedicated to keeping boaters safe on the water and supporting local communities.

ZONE RESCUE BREAKDOWN

Northern Rivers

Ballina 11

Point Danger 10

Iluka Yamba 5

Mid North Coast

Coffs Harbour 8

Forster Tuncurry 6

Camden Haven 5

Hunter/Central Coast

Lake Macquarie 44

Port Stephens 15

Central Coast 10

Greater Sydney

Botany Port Hacking 19

Port Jackson 8

Broken Bay 7

Illawarra

Port Kembla 9

Jervis Bay 6

Shellharbour 5

Shoalhaven 4

Monaro

Batemans Bay 9

Eden 1

Narooma 1

 


Support The Echo

Keeping the community together and the community voice loud and clear is what The Echo is about. More than ever we need your help to keep this voice alive and thriving in the community.

Like all businesses we are struggling to keep food on the table of all our local and hard working journalists, artists, sales, delivery and drudges who keep the news coming out to you both in the newspaper and online. If you can spare a few dollars a week – or maybe more – we would appreciate all the support you are able to give to keep the voice of independent, local journalism alive.

1 COMMENT

  1. They also had ‘a busy finish to Summer’. I’m sure they will have ‘a busy finish to Winter’. We get it, they are busy. If you want people to be more careful, let some drown, and publicise it. Get a reputation going that makes people fear getting into trouble in NSW because local Marine Rescue may just not be arsed that day to break up their poker game.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Portable gas device likely cause of Kingscliff fire

An elderly man was in hospital in critical condition Monday morning after an explosion and unit fire in Kingscliff that also landed a woman in hospital, emergency responders said.

Lismore Caltex targeted in global anti-genocide protests

Protesters against the role of fossil fuel company Chevron in the Gaza conflict gathered outside the Caltex petrol station in Lismore during peak commuter hours on Friday.

The Crack to Tyalgum restored and reopened

The road running to Tyalgum, including double lane access to Tyalgum village, has been restored for the first time since the 2022 floods. 

BOQ to close Byron branch

The Byron Bay branch of Bank of Queensland (BOQ) will close September 4.