SOUTH HAVEN, Mich. — The busiest time of year on Lake Michigan, between Memorial Day and Labor Day, has come to a close. According to data from the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project, drownings near West Michigan beaches are down.
In South Haven, there were four drownings during the summer of 2022.
So far in 2023, therehave been none.
Drownings have happened just outside of the FOX 17 viewing area, including at Warren Dunes State Park in Berrien County and in Ludington, but not a single drowning happened in Grand Haven, Muskegon, Holland or South Haven all summer.
The Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project says it's impossible to tell exactly why drownings are down in this specific area or to pinpoint if their work is doing its job. But last year's drownings did spark a flurry of education efforts, including a new grassroots program called the South Haven Beach Ambassadors— who handed out more than 4,000 brochures to people on the beach this year to educate them about the dangers of the water.
As summer turns to fall, beaches in South Haven were empty the Friday after Labor Day.
“It was a lovely summer. It was a relief really,” South Haven City Manager Kate Hosier said.
Even when the beach was full this summer, something was missing.
"It's kind of an intangible," Dave Benjamin, co-founder of the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project said.
Not a single drowning happened at a major Lake Michigan beach in the FOX 17 viewing area between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Dave Benjamin with the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project says drownings are down ten percent on Lake Michigan in total from this time last year. GLSRP records show seven drownings on West Michigan beaches in 2022.
Still, it's impossible to say what's behind the reduction.
“We can’t calculate how many people stopped at the shoreline and didn’t get in the water and didn’t have a drowning,” Benjamin said.
For the city manager OF South Haven, it's welcome news
“I like to see that that’s a result of all of our hard work,” Hosier said.
Hard work, which includes taking on code enforcement along the beach. That's something new to South Haven this summer.
"Beach safety personnel could write tickets when people are not following the rules, going in the water when it was red flags or jumping off the pier,” Hosier explained.
However, Benjamin says the education efforts in communities along the lakeshore must continue.
“We are in the process of receiving a donation that would provide water safety school presentations in Grand Haven for the elementary, junior high and high school, and we’re hoping to launch that next spring,” he said. “Drowning continues to be a neglected public health issue. Very little attention and funding goes towards educating the public about water safety,” Benjamin said.
The beach ambassador program, which is entirely run by volunteers, is set to expand to Holland Township next summer.
