Mermaids are making a splash in their bid to swim free at their local pool — and have taken the battle to the WA Parliament.

A trend is growing among mermaid enthusiasts, mainly women, who use special mermaid tails, form 'pods', and swim in the oceans and public pools.

But since Royal Life Saving WA and the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission warned of the dangers of children using mermaid tails, amateur mermaids are battling bureaucracy when they want to use their tails.

Sophia Wells — or Mermaid Sophia Marie — is based in Perth, and said there were about 120 people in the active Perth Merfolk 'pod group', and numbers were growing.

She turned to the activity as a creative outlet after a music career and said, like any hobby, it had provided fun and friendship, describing it as a "rich tool for the imagination".

"We come from different backgrounds, we do a lot of art and photography and crafting," she said.

"When we're not swimming we have craft nights, or movie nights."

Council crackdown

Ms Wells said the fun social activity had become more complex, and it was now a constant headache to convince pool managers to let them swim.

"It's grown so fast and so quickly, a lot of the pools don't know what to do," she said.

"They don't have any policies, they don't have any regulations, they're scared about public liability, of something happening."

Genovieve Stewart says mermaids want to swim freely at public pools. ( Supplied: Janet O'Brien )

Her podmates Maddy Schoeman and Genovieve Stewart said they were shocked when they went to their local public pool in Bunbury, in WA's South West recently, and were told their tails would not be welcome.

Despite having been welcome previously — in full mermaid regalia — the pair were told that the policy was being reviewed.

"I told [the receptionist] no, I've been swimming here for four months in my tail; you can't just tell me now that you don't do tails," Ms Schoeman said.

The mermaids said, as winter approached, they wanted to be able to swim at pools, which they said were safer than the ocean.

The City of Bunbury, which operates the pool, confirmed a temporary ban was in place while it reviewed its policy, but it was trying to work with the merfolk.

Push for change

The mermaids said the latest flap was one of many wrangles they had faced in their bid to swim freely.

Sophia Marie and Stephen Wells are taking their push to swim freely to Parliament. ( Supplied: Brian Donaldson Photography )

Earlier this year, Ms Wells' husband, Stephen, had taken the battle for all mermaids to swim freely to Parliament, by making a submission to WA's Select Committee on Personal Choice and Safety.

"I'd like a whole change in mindset, at the state and federal level, in terms of where liability lies," he said.

"Bureaucrats have felt compelled to take responsibility for the action of people on their facilities.

"It's no longer a case of we are responsible for ourselves and what we do … because somebody else might get in trouble for what you do.

"I put the submission into the Nanny State Inquiry because when it gets to the point where an adult can't even dress up in a tail without getting banned, something has gone seriously wrong."

Water safety concerns raised

A spokeswoman for Royal Life Saving WA said their warnings about 'monofins' were based on research on children.

"As far as we are aware no research has been conducted on the safety of these products for use by adults, and we have made no recommendations on their use by adults," she said.

"The report simply recommended that public aquatic centres should consider developing their own policies regarding the use of these products and implement these within their centre if they are concerned about their use."