TRANSCRIPT
Hasti Masoumi used to describe Little Bay in Sydney's east as a slice of heaven. That was until an incident on January 31st, 2022.
“Everytime I come back here, it carries the absolute worst memories for me. Memories that I will never ever be able to forget.”
It was the last day of school holidays.
Hasti, her husband and her 10-year-old son were excited to be rock fishing for the first time.
But tragedy struck before Payman and Mahan could even get their fishing rods wet, when a wave washed them off the rock platform.
“In the first moments, I didn't hear anything. In the first moment, I didn't understand what had happened even though I was only a few steps away. Thirty seconds later when I turned around, I realised no one was behind me.”
In a matter of minutes, Hasti had lost her entire family.
Since 2005, almost 200 people have died while rock fishing in Australia; the majority in New South Wales.
22 fatalities happened within Sydney's Randwick Council area, making this coastline the deadliest nationwide for rock fishing.
Wearing a life jacket while rock fishing is now compulsory at beaches in the Randwick area incuding Little Bay - under the Rock Fishing Safety act. But the rule isn’t nationwide or even state-wide.
For the legislation to take effect, councils must apply for their LGA to become a declared area.
But Superintendent Joe McNulty says everyone should be wearing a life jacket regardless.
“Life jackets will save your life. They're designed to save your life and they will return you to your loved ones once you've been washed off the rock platform into the water in a dangerous situation.”
Since the incident, Hasti has contributed to increased safety measures at Little Bay and is pushing for more to be done.
She's called for a meeting with the state Fair Trading Minister to discuss educating the public, especially people from migrant backgrounds.
She's also pushing for life jackets be sold alongside fishing equipment.
“It's really important for people who don't have enough information about fishing and want to buy fishing equipment for the first time to be able to access life jackets alongside them with ease.”
Efforts, she hopes, will prevent others from experiencing the same unimaginable loss.
“After that day, my life changed. I now carry pain and suffering with me that I must continue to carry until my last breath.”
