'Game changer': how Kiama's AI cameras just saved a fisherman from the ocean

The 29-year-old man was fishing near Kiama Blowhole when a large wave swept two men off the rocks at 6.50am on Sunday, January 11.

It all happened under the watchful eye of recently-installed AI cameras at the site.

This is the first instance of it helping to have someone's life since the cameras were installed in late 2025 in a bid to reduce the number of deaths of rock fishers.

The camera's activation alerted emergency crews and lifesavers, lifeguards, police and a rescue helicopter were called in.

One man was able to scramble back onto rocks to safety, the other remained in the ocean.

While his lifejacket kept him afloat, he drifted and was about 30 to 50 metres off shore when he was winched out of the ocean.

Apart from some minor injuries, he emerged unscathed.

Surf Life Saving NSW South Coast duty officer Shane Wicks branded the cameras as "unbelievable technology" that is helping the community.

"It's a game changer in how quick emergency services can be responded, but it also relies on fishers wearing the correct gear when fishing," he said.

Kiama is one of only two NSW locations to be included in the 14-month AI camera trial, the other is Little Bay in the Randwick local government area.

During the past 15 years, 11 people have died while rock fishing in Kiama. It has been deemed one of the state's highest-risk coastal locations.

Father and son Nelson and Joshua Chan, aged 47 and 17, were swept off the rocks while fishing in August 2024. Despite three days of widespread searching their bodies were not found.

At this stage, every time the AI cameras are activated they are manually checked by staff to ensure it is an actual emergency, SLS NSW's Patrick Boddan said.

The AI technology is still learning how to differentiate between birds that land and sit on the water and humans.

The AI also needs to learn the difference between a diver who is prepared with the right equipment who dives into the water, as opposed to someone swept off the rocks in the ocean.

"At the moment the difficult process is that they're doing every one and that's a manual process," Mr Boddan said.

"It is getting much, much better. You have to teach it the tools.

"This camera, once it is trained and it does learn to pick up those incidents, it will be a game changer."

The technology also helped save an angler in Little Bay, with emergency crews able to get to the angler eight minutes earlier due to the AI notification.

"This is the time it takes for your brain to shut down if you stop breathing [in the water]," Mr Boddan said.

"They're going to have a massive impact if we can get them trained up correctly."