Water safety campaigners are still fighting for messaging to be heard around safety in the water after 90 preventable drownings in the past 12 months, and they're calling for behavioural experts to get involved.

The 90 deaths are a slightly smaller rate than the number of drownings in 2022, but it's still more than the 10-year average by roughly 10 per cent.

The head of Water Safety New Zealand, Daniel Gerrard, told Newstalk ZB's Summer Breakfast it was disappointing to see the drowning rate continue to rise each year.

"Firstly, thoughts have to go out to the fact that there were 90 families that were impacted last year who lost somebody to a preventable drowning, it's those people we need to start with," he said.

"But the frustration is, year on year, the messaging not getting through is just a massive challenge."

Gerrard said water safety is primarily an "older male problem" in New Zealand and the statistics support his belief. When it comes to drownings, eight out of 10 involve a male and they're usually aged over 45.

It's known this group needs to be targeted with strong messaging about not overestimating their abilities in the water, but Gerrard admitted there have been issues having those messages taken seriously by the age group.

"I'm in that group, and I understand we do have a feeling like we're a bit bullet-proof and we're as strong as we were when we were 20 years old," he said.

"But we can't do what we used to be able to do, so we've got to start listening to some of the messaging. We need behavioural change experts to join us on this challenge, there's no question about that."

Gerrard pointed to other national crises that have similar problems around targeting disproportionately affected age groups - such as drink-driving and the road toll. His typical approach is focusing on whānau and reminding the public about the pain caused by not coming home to their loved ones.

But despite the continually high drowning rate, Gerrard was able to point to a few bright sparks within the data.

"I look at these numbers daily and the doom and gloom of this all is overwhelming at times," he said.

"But to actually start to see some change, and we can't use one point in time as a trend, but clearly boating, this year, has been somewhere that numbers have been incredibly reduced."

It's hoped that the perception around life jackets might have transitioned from being bulky and cumbersome objects to life protectors, Gerrard said, and the result has been a "massive drop off" in boating deaths.

Other positive points are communities that were disproportionately affected by water deaths - such as Northland.

"[The region] has traditionally been way over-represented as a community but has dropped right down," he said.

"While we have, as a sector and collective organisation, spent a lot of time talking to locals, having local huis, we find local issues and use local champions to push a cause, and that seems to be paying dividends.

"So I think more of that approach around the country will be celebrated."