A man's body was found just before 11am on Sunday in Dolphin Bay at Whale Beach.

Surf Life Saving NSW said the body is believed to be a 53-year-old man who had been fishing off a rock platform on Saturday afternoon.

When the man did not return home, his family raised the alarm. The man's son found his empty car in a car park on Sunday, Surf Life Saving NSW said.

He was not wearing a life jacket while fishing but how or why he entered the water are not known, the organisation said.

Police, however, are yet to identify the body and have not confirmed it is that of the missing rock fisher.

"Initial investigations suggest the death is not suspicious," police said in a statement.

"The body has not been identified and forensic examination will take place to determine whether it is a man who went missing in the area yesterday."

A crime scene was established at the site, which is a popular rock fishing location. 

*/ ]]>

"It attracts a lot of rock fishermen and it is quite a remote area," Donna Wishart, Surf Life Saving NSW spokeswoman, said. "They can walk a fair way around the rock shelf - it's a very long, large rock headland."

The surf was not particularly rough on Saturday, Ms Wishart said, but there was a long-period swell which might have caught people off guard.

In February, Emergency Services minister David Elliott announced the state government would introduce new laws which would force rock fishers at high-risk locations to wear life jackets.

At the time, Mr Elliott said 37 rock fishers had been killed in the past four years and only one had been wearing a life jacket.

A working group has been established to determine where those high-risk sites will be, with the legislation expected to go before parliament later this year.

Rock fishers are expected to have a one-year grace period before the law is enforced.

In Randwick, on Sydney's eastern suburbs, bright red signs tallying the deaths of rock fishers have been installed at black spots along the coast.