Over 130 people needed help from lifeguards in the Bay of Plenty and Coromandel yesterday prompting fresh calls to swim between the flags

Mount Maunganui beach teams assisted over 80 people in the surf alone with the majority of those helped swimming outside the patrolled zones.

Surf Life Saving NZ's Eastern Region lifesaving manager Chaz Gibbons-Campbell says big swells and king tides have made conditions gnarly.

He says lifeguards at Whangamata carried out a mass rescue when six people became trapped in a whirlpool.

Extra lifeguards have been brought into the area for the busy holiday period.