Hinahina fatality - New Zealand

[DandyDon]

Man dies after diving incident in south Otago

A man has died after a diving incident near Owaka Heads, Hinahina in south Otago on Sunday afternoon.

Police say they were called at about 12pm when the diver became separated from others in his party.

A search was launched and the man was found around 1:40pm.

He was not able to be revived and was pronounced dead at the scene, police say.

The death will be referred to the Coroner.

The man's death is the second diving-related fatality for the holiday period - one person died at a Hawke's Bay beach on Christmas Day.

 

[clownfishsydney]

As I have stated here before, I am simply amazed by the number of diving deaths in New Zealand, a country with a population similar to Sydney. The whole of Australia (with five times the population) does not have as many deaths as NZ. Even Sydney does not have as many deaths.

Why are there so many? I have no idea.

 

[chris kippax]

Seafood, I would wager the majority of deaths are people taking seafood?

 

[lermontov]

Seafood, I would wager the majority of deaths are people taking seafood?

pretty much all the deaths i can recall in the last 5 years are recreational and majority are hunter gatherers - unfortunately we do have a bit of a gung ho culture in that area- many are self taught and have no idea or awareness of min safety standards.

 

[chris kippax]

The thirst for Pāua would be my bet

 

[Bob DBF]

The thirst for Pāua would be my bet

After looking it up, it looks like our Abalone. Before the kelp die out and the harvest was stopped, we lost several divers ( free diving only for abalone) every year, a half dozen was not too uncommon. The affected area was along the NorCal coast from Jenner to a bit north of Ft Bragg. The big ones were in the kelp beds.

And yeah, I had the thirst, but I restrained myself when necessary, some don't.

 

[Bazzathemammoth]

I think scallop gathering is one of our biggest killers of recreational scuba divers. The whole scallop lust thing makes people forget to check their air and ndls. Then the full catch bag makes it harder to get up when they suck rust.

I have met several divers who have never been through any kind of offical training too. Many of them had a 5 min lesson from their mate or dad.

"Dont hold your breath, don't ascend quicker than your slowest bubbles, and use this to inflate/ deflate your BCD. Now go get me some scallops"

Thankfully this attitude is starting to disappear, but I'm sure there are still quite a few still diving with this type of training. Shops here will generally sell gear to anyone and guided trips arent much of a thing in NZ, it's mostly private boat trips.

Fyi, in nz it's illegal to catch paua (abalone) on tanks

 

[dmaziuk]

Fyi, in nz it's illegal to catch paua (abalone) on tanks

I was wondering about that. It's probably unreasonable to expect someone to play by the rules while breaking the law. Like, if you go hunting out of season and without the license, you might as well bring an AK47: in for a penny...

 

[Bazzathemammoth]

I don't quite follow. Is not illegal to dive without training, just stupid.

We are a pretty free country and dont need licenses for much thankfully. I can sail my yacht all over the coast, freedive and scuba dive for food, fish and anchor pretty much wherever i like without a license for any of the above.

And the yanks think they have freedom....

 

[Scraps]

I was wondering about that. It's probably unreasonable to expect someone to play by the rules while breaking the law. Like, if you go hunting out of season and without the license, you might as well bring an AK47: in for a penny...

The AK-47 is often used legally for hunting.