Life Saving Victoria has praised the work of Port Fairy lifesavers and swimmers with only two beach rescues occurring during the busy summer period.
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More than 27,100 residents and visitors attended East Beach between December 1, 2016 to January 31, 2017 during the peak tourist season.
Last year there was one rescue at the beach during the same period.
Life Saving Victoria operations manager Greg Scott said the organisation liked to see a low number of rescues occur at patrolled beaches.
“It highlights the good work lifesavers are doing in preventing rescues from occurring,” Mr Scott said.
He commended the public for doing the “right thing” by swimming at patrolled beaches, where they could be assisted.
“The public play their part by swimming at patrolled locations and the lifesavers are there if needed,” he said.
Mr Scott said the slight increase in rescues could be attributed to various weather, beach and surf conditions experienced on a particular day.
He said Port Fairy lifesavers performed 347 preventative actions, which was down from 573 last summer.
A preventative action is a “direct action taken to reduce or eliminate the probability of a specific rescue, first aid or other reportable incident from happening in the future,” he said.
“The number of preventative actions recorded is to reflect the number of specific rescue, first aid or other reportable incidents that were avoided,” he said.
The figures also showed a decrease in first aid administered from 20 cases in 2016-17 to 18 this summer.
Warrnambool and Port Fairy were the highest attended beaches with 30,350 and 27,100 people respectively.
Narrawong had more than 2200 beach-goers, while Portland and Port Campbell had 4100 and 4550 users respectively.
Mr Scott reminded swimmers to be aware of and prepare for conditions. Up-to-date conditions and warnings can be accessed on the Bureau of Meteorology app and VicEmergency app.
Swimmers are encouraged to read safety signs to understand dangers, swim between the red and yellow flags and to swim with a friend. It is also important to know how to spot and avoid rip currents.
For more information go to beachsafe.org.au or download the beachsafe app.
