Drownings will continue at the deadly Salmon Holes fishing spot near Albany in Western Australia — known locally as Suicide Rock — unless drastic action is taken to prevent them, an inquest has heard.

That was the united message from emergency agency staff called before the inquest yesterday into the deaths of two fishermen at Salmon Holes in 2015.

They said mandatory life-jackets for rock fishers should be introduced without delay.

The four-day hearing in Albany called witnesses from WA Police, St John Ambulance, and the Albany Volunteer Sea Rescue group to testify what happened on April 18, 2015, when Chinese nationals Jiaolong Zhang and Chunjun Li were swept into the Southern Ocean while fishing at Salmon Holes.

Thirteen people have died at the same spot since 1974 — six in the past 10 years.

All the agency staff told Deputy State Coroner Evelyn Vicker that they had never seen such a massive swell pounding the coast the day they responded to the triple zero call that two men were in the ocean.

They all said that it was extraordinary that people had gone to Salmon Holes to try to risk their lives catch fish in such conditions.

Police, ambulance and sea rescue volunteers expressed shock and dismay that such a tragedy had taken place when common sense should have prevailed.

Rescuers believed that Chinese nationals, Jiaolong Zhang and Chunjun Li, were tied together by a rope looped around a rock when they were struck by a wave. Police divers were unable to locate Mr Zhang's body. ( ABC News: Mark Bennett )

Tourist risked his life to retrieve body

Queensland tourist Wayne Geall, who was visiting the area with his family, braved wading into the six-metre swells to pull Chunjun Li's body to shore, said the volume of water was mind-blowing.

Mr Geall said he was too frightened and exhausted to go back in to retrieve Jiaolong Zhang who drifted briefly close to shore before being swept out sea and was never seen again.

The incident had a profound effect on Mr Geall, who told the hearing his family packed up and left Albany, traumatised by the event.

Albany local and career St John Ambulance officer Michael Ficko, an experienced fisherman and surfer, said when he turned up at the scene he was shocked at the "horrendous" size of the waves.

He said he was "dumbfounded" and it was "mind baffling" why anyone would consider fishing that day.

Mr Ficko said St John Ambulance had attended more drownings at Salmon Holes than anywhere else on the south coast.

Deputy State Coroner Evelyn Vicker visited the site earlier this week. ( Mark Bennet )

Compulsory lifejackets for rock fishers

Albany Volunteer Sea Rescue Co-ordinator Chris Johns said the notoriously dangerous bay, 20 kilometres from Albany, had become a place where the rescue group zipped up people in body bags instead of performing rescues.

He said the chances of surviving long enough in the ocean for help to arrive were next to zero.

Mr Johns said his volunteers were bearing the emotional cost and the physical danger of rescues and recovery operations and called for mandatory PFD's (personal flotation devices) for rock fishers to be introduced.

"The policy of education and warning signs is not improving peoples buoyancy in the water," Mr Johns said.

"Some peak bodies prefer education, but from our point of view and historically, we know empirically it's not working and we are getting very tired of the education argument so something needs to change drastically."

But spokesperson for peak recreational fishing body, Rec-Fish-West, Tim Grose, was adamant compulsory life-jackets would not be supported and would have made little difference to the double drowning in April 2015.

"There was a six to seven-metre swell on the day the two gentlemen went in the water and lifejackets probably would not have made too much difference on that day," Mr Grose said.

"People have to take personal responsibility and not rely on authorities to over regulate these things.

"We don't close the roads when it gets wet so we definitely don't support the mandatory wearing of lifejackets, but we definitely support the increase of education of the jackets."

The Department, and other agencies, have run safety education campaigns, put up warning signs at the notorious fishing spot on Western Australia's south coast.

Closing Salmon Holes as a safety option?

Greg Mair, the Regional Manager for the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, the agency which is responsible for public safety in Torndirrup National Park where Salmon Holes is located, said a permanent closure and a periodic closure of Salmon Holes had been discussed but would not be introduced as it was "problematic".

"Numerous public submissions to the department indicated that the public want the beach and rocks to be kept open and for the public to be responsible for their own safety," Mr Mair said.

He said the department and other agencies had run safety-education campaigns, put up warning signs, and on busy public holidays when visitors swarm to the area to catch salmon, had provided department to reinforce the safety message.

"We don't want to deny people the opportunity to safely visit the Salmon Holes. It's a wonderful venue and can be enjoyed safely without going on to the rocks."

Life jackets could soon be mandatory

While a full report is still months away, Deputy Coroner Vicker told the court it was her strong intention to make the recommendation, dismissing concerns over how it will be enforced.

UWA Centre of Excellence in Natural Resource Management director Barbara Cook told the inquest there was "clear evidence" that the wearing of life jackets does decrease the risk of death.

Ms Cook said mandatory, not voluntary, wearing of life jackets is a more effective way of saving lives, and a big "education campaign" clearly had not worked.

She told the coroner in some instances, the risk of breaking the law was a bigger driver to behavioural change than a possible risk to life.

A survey of 236 fishers undertaken at Salmon Holes three weeks before the two deaths found that even though 92 per cent of fishers agreed drowning was a risk, they still chose to fish at the site.

The study also suggested only 4 per cent always wore a life jacket, and 2 per cent sometimes.

A separate inquest into another rock fishing death at Salmon Holes begins tomorrow.