Michigan summers attract many visitors to the Great Lakes, but a disregard for red flags and drowning warnings has led to a possible policy change.
The Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project has counted 34 drownings in the Great Lakes so far this year. Most of these tragedies have occured in Lake Michigan, with 16 drownings counted.
Now, the Department of Natural Resources is proposing a new policy urging people to heed the warning of red flags and other markers. With this policy, the DNR would have the ability to close beaches in curcumstances of rough water and strong tide. If an individual entered the water, they'd be fined.
Chief of Parks and Recreation, Ron Olson, said the policy isn't a solution, it's only another protective measure.
“Keep in mind, it's not a solution," he said. "It's another ability for us to help control at our discretion when the circumstances might demand that we close the gateway collaborated with local emergency management, sheriff's departments, and others, that partner with us in the cities and towns along here."
Most people are good about following the warnings, Olson said, but others assume they'll be fine in the water as long as they're wading. He said that even waders can be swept away if the wind picks up.
Some officials, like Co-founder and Executive Director of the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project, Dave Benjamin, feel that the policy is vague.
"What we believe is that swimmers and waders, people who just want to put their toes in the water on the shoreline, or go knee high, they should not be in the water on red flag dates. But surfers, kite surfers, other extreme water enthusiast should be exempt from this order because they're not swimming and they're not wading," he said. "They're entering the water tethered to a flotation device, they're wearing a wetsuit, according to the water temperature."
Rather than enact a new policy, Benjamin said there should be more lifeguards posted at beaches, and a broader availability of water safety education.
"The way to do this, right, and the way to do this professionally, is to bring back lifeguards, and then to have a public education statewide," he said. "If a person is swimming at a USLA, that's United States Lifesaving Association, guarded beach, there's a one in 18 million chance that they would have a fatal drowning, so that's how big of a difference lifeguards make."
A decision on the DNR's proposed policy is expected by mid-August.