Brenden had been fishing without a life jacket despite a hazardous surf warning, when a wave swept him into the sea.

Paul Scully has written to Wollongong's Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery telling him their efforts have been "insufficient" for public safety and he wants to help, however the council is concerned at the large costs associated with policing a life jacket mandate.

"Artificial barriers ... shouldn't stand in the way," Mr Scully said. "It's one of the most dangerous rock fishing places in the country."

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Currently, under the Rock Fishing Safety Act an councils can "opt-in" to declare hotspots and make it compulsory to use of lifejackets for rock fishing, though Cr Bradbery said $30,000 of state government funding was nowhere near enough to run the scheme.

"Regulation is one thing but resourcing the staff to enforce it is another thing, and ultimately council compliance officers don't have the powers they have to rely on police to enforce compliance," Cr Bradbery said.

"It's not as easy as it sounds putting up regulations, it also requires people to be more responsible in terms of managing their own risk ... we've got 50 kilometres of coastline and $30,000 is not going to go far."

Cr Bradbery said the council was still awaiting an outcome and advice from the coroner following the death of five rock fisherman at the same spot in early 2021 before taking further action, while if a mandate did come into play there would still be people trying to evade the system.

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Meantime, Mr Scully claims council-run education programs and the installation of a giant sign advising people of the dangers and the death toll at Hill 60 were not working.

He wants to see lifejackets mandated along with other safety measures like an alarm system alerting fishers to big waves and even an option to provide access to free lifejackets for those who can't afford them.

In 2018, Shellharbour Council looked into mandating lifejackets for rock fishers after several tragic incidents on their own coastline but also found regulation to be costly.

A report identified six high risk locations in their Local Government Area, while they would need to employ an additional regulation officer, at an estimated cost of about $100,000 per year, to specifically monitor and issue fines.

The report found patrols would also need to be undertaken by no less than two rangers, and monitoring the areas would take about 3-5 hours per day, per ranger, depending on number of fishers without a lifejacket.

When asked if the NSW Government should put up more money to help, Mr Scully said the solution needed to be a multi-agency approach with input from council, NSW Police, Surf Life Saving and the government.

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