From today until the end of March, lifeguards will be on patrol during the weekend at St Kilda, St Clair, Warrington and Brighton beaches, but there are concerns about the lack of patrols at Tomahawk Beach.
Last year, there were two near drownings at the beach, where swimmers had to be pulled out of the surf by other beach-goers.
St Clair Surf Life Saving Club chairman James Coombes said there had been discussions between the St Clair and St Kilda surf life saving clubs and the Otago Southland lifeguard committee about how to best manage the increasing popularity of the beach.
It was possible lifeguard services would return in the future although there was no timeframe and it might not be possible this summer, Mr Coombes said.
There was anecdotal evidence the beach was nearly as popular as St Clair and St Kilda.
One of the options being discussed was to bring back lifeguard patrols, but how it would be done was still not known, he said.
Historically, there had been a patrol based at the beach but it disappeared when the beach was made off limits to swimmers because of contamination from the nearby outfall sewage pipe. It was declared clean in 2009 after the new outfall pipe was completed.
"It’s just become really popular and it really needs a dedicated service to be able to respond effectively.
"Either St Clair or St Kilda are able to respond to some incidents but that’s not really an effective service."
Volunteer numbers were the biggest obstacle to establishing a patrol at the beach, he said.
"It’s not for a lack of will or equipment but I think if you ask any volunteer organisation to increase their manpower I think you find they will struggle."
The St Clair club had about 90 volunteers who spent about 20 to 25 hours each patrolling the beach this season, he said.
For now, people using the beach needed to be aware of the dangers it posed and to always take care when they entered the water, he said.
