The fundraising for the kits began at the 2018 Combined Business Networks Christmas fundraiser sponsored by the Port Macquarie News at Flynns Beach Surf Club on December 12.

Surf clubs at Flynns Beach, Tacking Point, Wauchope-Bonny Hills and Camden Haven will receive the kits which are specially fitted out with first-response emergency equiment including pressure bandages and tourniquets.

“Most people don’t die from being bitten by a shark – they die from loss of blood,” Surf Life Saving NSW’s Tony O’Mara said.

“We will have the first clubs in Australia equipped with these response kits so are first responders on jet skis and our lifeguards will be prepared.”

In Port Macquarie-Hastings last year, surf life saving volunteers committed more than 14,500 hours of service on our beaches and performed 214 rescues.

The shark attack response kits cost $500 each and each of the four local surf clubs will be equipped with two.

Port Macquarie Chamber of Commerce president Mark Wilson  praised the work of local surf life saving volunteers, their work on local beaches and the hundreds of hours of education delivered to local school children.