Fundraising efforts to help upgrade rescue service

BALLINA Marine Rescue is calling on the community to help raise vital funds with plans to upgrade its service.

The team will run a barbecue on Sunday, January 12 at North Wall with people encouraged to attend breakfast between 7am-11am.

The group has already had its first barbecue of the year the previous weekend with the donation buckets filled by generous supporters.

It was sponsored by Disability Adventures who run fishing and other activities with the NDIS.

Residents from the Ballina Shire and across the region can meet members of the team and gain information on how to become a volunteer.

They can tour the radio base and learn more about the behind-the-scenes work that supports safety on the waterways.

During the holiday period, the marine rescue group has been kept busy.

The radio base, which serves Ballina, Evans Head, and Iluka/Yamba, has been operating at full capacity.

The radio operators have logged more than 300 boats and coordinated multiple assists for vessels experiencing mechanical failures.

Some of the vessels in need of assistance were not logged on with marine rescue.

“This highlights a crucial safety concern,” a spokesperson said.

“If communication systems on these vessels had also failed, marine rescue would have had no way of knowing they were in distress or even missing.

“The team has been actively responding to incidents, including a jet boat dispatched to assist a vessel up North Creek and the BA30 vessel deployed offshore to help a jet ski in trouble.”

Two marine rescue volunteers also took to the air to observe and assess ongoing operations as part of their skills and training.

It shapes as a big year for Ballina Marine Rescue who will soon have a new state-of-the-art rescue boat.

The rescue service’s vessel BA30, used for blue water rescues in open seas, is 11 years old and will be replaced midyear.

It aims to raise more than $150,000 to contribute to the cost of a new vessel, with the remainder covered by the NSW Government.

The vessel will have upgraded features such as thermal imaging for night rescues and a hull better suited to crossing the notorious Ballina bar.