Drownings in the southern region have more than doubled in the past 12 months and many of them were caused by "ignorance and a blase attitude to safety".
Statistics released by Water Safety New Zealand (WSNZ) show 10 people drowned in Otago and five in Southland in 2009.
In 2008, seven people drowned in Otago and no-one drowned in Southland.
Nationwide, the figures remained static at 98 drowning deaths in 2009.
WSNZ general manager Matt Claridge said the record low was in 2006 when 91 people drowned, and the highest was in 1985, when 215 drowned.
While the 2009 figure was the second-lowest toll since records began in 1980, New Zealand could still do much to improve, Mr Claridge said.
About two-thirds of the drownings in Otago occurred during recreational activities on or near water.
Mr Claridge was particularly concerned about the increase in power boat-related drownings with 12 nationwide in 2009 compared with recent-year figures of five (2008), six (2007), eight (2006) and five (2005).
Underwater-related drownings (scuba diving, snorkelling and free-diving) have nearly doubled from five in 2008 to nine in 2009, he said.
"The recreation-based drowning toll is often driven by ignorance and a blase attitude to safety.
"This is the case once again, with a high number of boating incidents and more males drowning than expected.
"The message to boaties is take a Coastguard Boating Education course.
"For parents, quite simply, take a role in helping your children enjoy the water for life.
"Help them learn to swim and develop survival skills and ensure they have a positive attitude to water safety from a young age."
Mr Claridge said the effect of education, awareness and prevention initiatives delivered during the past 30 years had reflected in a decline in annual drowning deaths from a yearly average of 181 in the 1980s to 116 in the past decade.
However, he was now concerned what these statistics would look like in another 30 years' time, as a growing number of children failed to learn to swim and survive in the water.
"Water safety should be an inherent part of our culture. It shouldn't be limited to a fad or trend for two to three months of the year when good weather and holidays coincide."
Otago and Southland drownings in 2009
- Jet-boat driver Lawrence Brett Singleton (51) and passenger Anton Oskar Woitasek (34), both of Queenstown, drowned when their boat and a jet ski collided on the Kawarau River, near Frankton, in January.
- A 26-year-old man drowned in January while board riding at Colac Bay.
- Sean Francis Lawson (20), of Alaska, drowned at the Kakanui River mouth in February.
- A 47-year-old man drowned in the bath in a Te Anau hotel in March after suffering a medical event.
- A 41-year-old woman drowned in Dunedin in April.
- A man drowned while snorkelling off Murray Beach near Stewart Island in April.
- A 9-year-old boy drowned in the bath in Belleknowes, Dunedin, in June.
- Regan John McCormack (20), a University of Otago student, drowned after he fell into Otago Harbour in July.
- Ricky Joseph Gregory (22), of Cromwell, drowned in Lake Te Anau in August, when a dinghy overturned.
- A 63-year-old man drowned in Oamaru Harbour in September.
- A 67-year-old man drowned while whitebaiting near Tokanui in October.
- John Christopher Billington (60), of Careys Bay, Dunedin, drowned in Otago Harbour in November.
- Devin Donald Croad (48), of Gore, drowned while fishing on Lake Onslow in Central Otago in November.
- Gellert Csaba Mudra (41), of Hungary, drowned in Queenstown Bay in November.
