Surf Life Saving New Zealand is assessing the risks to safety, including the likelihood of drowning, at every beach in the country.
About 20 people a year drown off New Zealand's beaches, a number that Surf Life Saving says is far too high.
By factoring in the physical environment, weather, patterns of use and the history of life-saving and drownings at each beach, the organisation aims to identify interventions that will make the beaches safer.
Chief executive Geoff Barry says that these might include lifeguards, signage or education programmes.
There will be safety improvements to the first of the assessed beaches, including previously unpatrolled ones, this summer.
Some swimmers still just won't listen
Meanwhile, as holidaymakers head for the beaches, Andy Kent of Surf Life Saving's northern region says he still finds it hard to understand how some people continue to ignore simple messages about safe swimming.
Every summer, he says, they plead with swimmers to stay between the lifesavers' flags and not swim alone - but some just brush it off.
