Swimming New England and North West (SNENW) president Brian Coombs wants to see more people come on deck to avoid that problem.

"We need a lot more people to step up in the technical official world," Coombs said.

He added: "It's becoming a bit of an issue. If it doesn't change we might have to say [to committees] you can't have a carnival because we don't have enough technical officials."

Coombs said each carnival must have an accredited referee and a starter.

"Everything else you can get by with," the president said.

But running with the bare minimum means the referee doubles as a judge of stroke and the inspector of turns and that is where things can be missed.

"If it's just you across eight lanes, you're not going to pick them [mistakes] all up and they [swimmers] can get through not doing the right stroke," Coombs said.

"At the next level, they could have six sets of eyes on them to make sure they're doing the stroke correctly."

To help pick up and correct mistakes, Coombs said ideally each carnival should have "at the very least a referee and two judges of stroke" with the judges of stroke to also do the role of inspector of turns.

Coombs said there were plenty of resources in the area for anyone looking to train as a technical official.

"There's qualified people in the area who can help out," he said. Anyone looking to train as a technical official can contact SNENW through their website newenglandnwnsw.swimming.org.au.

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