A SEARCH is underway for a man swept off rocks south of Catherine Hill Bay Saturday morning.
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At around 8am, police were called to reports a rock fisherman had been pull into the water off the southern shelf of Snapper Point.
Police say the man was wearing a personal flotation device which came off after he entered the water.
The search is being lead by officers from Tuggerah Lakes and Brisbane Waters Police Districts, assisted by PolAir, Marine Area Command, Marine Rescue NSW, Surf Life Saving Australia and NSW National Parks and Wildlife service.
Police say at around 2.30pm divers had been called out from Newcastle Police District.
Members of Surf Life Saving employed Jetskis to search for the man. However, due to dangerous conditions and lack of visibility in the water, a thermal imaging drone was subsequently employed by rescue services.
In 2019, Surf Life Saving NSW told the Newcastle Herald there had been 35 major emergency callouts, major rescues or taskings its members had responded to in the past decade at Snapper Point.
Nine drownings had also occurred at the popular rock-fishing site in that time.
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