A coroner is urging whitebaiters to wear life-jackets after a father of 12 died on the West Coast in 2024.
Paul Finlay, 78, drowned after being swept into the water while whitebaiting at Seven Mile Creek, at Rapahoe, near Greymouth.
Coroner Mary-Anne Borrowdale found Finlay was either knocked over by the waves or fell into the creek and drowned.
She described the civil engineer as a well-known local personality in the Grey district and a dedicated church-goer.
Finlay had stood for election to the Grey District Council and the West Coast Regional Council.
A candidate profile said he was born in the former coal mining settlement of Dunollie and raised in Cobden. He had been a UNESCO Research Fellow at Kyoto University and worked in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines, including following the 7.2-magnitude Bohol Island earthquake that killed more than 200 people in 2013.
Borrowdale said Finlay had separated from his wife Anavic and their young children, including a newborn baby, but appeared to want to re-engage with his family and might have been whitebaiting to provide a family meal.
Finlay's brother William Finlay told the coroner his brother was a long-time whitebaiter who had fished at Seven Mile Creek for about two years, though he noted during that time the river mouth had been dug out by heavy seas and was much deeper.
Finlay was known to be wary of water surges and would advise others to back away when it looked dangerous.
He was also thought to be quite a good swimmer, Borrowdale said.
It was approaching high tide on September 18 2024 when Finlay set up around 10am with sunshine forecast after a period of heavy rain.
Family told the coroner Finlay was expecting a big run of whitebait thanks to the anticipated full moon and king tide.
Witness Shane Williams recounted seeing Finlay standing in the river with his bucket on the rock wall next to him as the incoming tide caused waves to surge up the river mouth, at one point coming up and over Finlay's waders.
Constable Luken Bisley said there was a large swell with tidal waves, high water levels and a 3.5 metre high tide.
The waves coming up the river were large enough to cause Williams to consider going home.
Williams said he looked away briefly and when he looked back he could not see Finlay.
He called emergency services when he realised Finlay had been caught by the waves and sucked into the river.
Finlay then surfaced near the middle of the river and yelled for help.
Williams responded telling Finlay to roll onto his back and then ran down to a wooden bridge further along the river but could only see Finlay's boot heels surfacing.
He tried to reach Finlay but could not.
Police were able to recover Finlay's body from the middle of the river with help from the public after arriving at 10.13am.
Finlay received CPR but could not be resuscitated.
Borrowdale said Finlay was wearing multiple layers of clothing, including between four and seven layers of tops.
He felt the cold and liked to wear multiple layers to protect against chest infections.
"These were significantly heavy garments made much worse when waterlogged once Mr Finlay was submerged in the river," Borrowdale said.
"It would have been difficult for him to have self-rescued while so burdened."
His failure to wear a life jacket significantly contributed to his death as it could have offered him a chance to get back to shore or to remain afloat long enough for a bystander to rescue him, Borrowdale said.
William said he had loaned his brother a life jacket a couple of years earlier but he returned it.
Borrowdale urged whitebaiters to follow the Department of Conservation's advice for staying safe including not whitebaiting alone, wearing a life jacket and wader belt on land and water, avoiding wet rocks and carrying waterproof ways to call for help such as a distress beacon.
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