Marine Enforcement Team to be patrolling Macquarie River, inland waterways

The Marine Enforcement Team will be monitoring the waterways in Dubbo and across the state, utilising police officers on boats and jet skis.

Western Region commander Assistant Commissioner Geoff McKechnie said staying safe on the water wasn’t “rocket science”.

“Most people would know that alcohol and boating in particular don’t mix. We see a number of incidents each year involving alcohol, particularly on our dams and rivers, and people need to understand that the same rules apply to rivers and dams that apply to our roads,” he said.

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Marine Area commander Superintendent Mark Hutchings said the police would not be giving warnings.

“If we do a random breath test and someone goes over, they’ll be arrested and taken back to the station to be charged. I make no apologies for that,” he said.

Supt Hutchings said he didn't want to scare people off the water. The aim of the new team was to reduce fatalities.

“The main thing we see over and over again, whether it’s boating or swimming or even rock fishing on the ocean, is people overestimating their abilities and underestimating the water. A calm river can be quite dangerous if you don’t know it or you’ve had a few drinks,” Supt Hutchings said.

Dubbo MP Troy Grant said while any drowning was “an absolute tragedy”, in most cases it could be avoided.

“Over the last 10 years we have lost the equivalent of a cricket team to drowning deaths in rivers and dams. Locally, for the last two years in a row we’ve had a tragic death on our waterways,” Mr Grant said.

“The Macquarie River and the Murrumbidgee River over the last decade are two of the most dangerous rivers in regional NSW, along with the Nepean in the metropolitan area for drowning deaths. We want to drop that figure down.”

Supt Hutchings said the good news was vessel fatalities had been reduced by 70 per cent in the last five years. He said he wanted to see a further reduction in deaths around inland waterways.