The president of the Association of Industrial and Similar Concessionaires of the Beaches of the Orla Marítima do Algarve (AISCOMA), Artur Simão, said that the requirement for two lifeguards "is already difficult to fulfil in the bathing season", suggesting a reduction in the number to guarantee aid at beaches during quieter periods.

“Outside the bathing season, for anything to open, it has to operate with two lifeguards. I think that, in these times, when things are not profitable, it would be good form to have only one lifeguard. It is better to have one than to have none,” he stated.

With the bathing season in the Algarve usually starting on the 15th of May, in Albufeira, and on the 1st of June, in the rest of the region, concessionaires are starting to face the problem that “every year they feel” and which is linked to a lack of sufficient lifeguards to meet the needs.

In the last week, the National Maritime Authority (AMN) reported six rescue operations, a total of 11 people, three of whom died, two in Sesimbra and one in Matosinhos, accidents that are increasingly frequent in the months when beaches are not supervised.

In the Algarve, a 27-year-old US citizen who dived into the sea from a cliff in Vila do Bispo remains missing since Friday after several days of unsuccessful searches.

“Not enough lifeguards have been trained for the market. And if it weren't for some immigrants, Brazilians and others, I don't know what the situation would be”, said the AISCOMA director, who said he still did not have data on the exact number of professionals needed and how many are missing for the next bathing season.

Artur Simão regretted that “no investment was made” in preparing people to help on the beaches and warned that “it is necessary to train” lifeguards, but also to move towards the professionalization of these workers.

Workforce issues

“In most cases, it is the concessionaires of the bathing units who guarantee the safety of the beaches and, of course, as long as there is no chance for people to work all year round the problem will always arise”, he warned.

The president of AISCOMA noted that the people who help on the beach “often are young men who study and do the bathing season” as lifeguards, or else “work for a while” and then “become unemployed".

Added to these difficulties is the fact that the licenses are valid for three years, Artur Simão also argued, stressing that “before the pandemic [of covid-19] there were already these shortages” and, as “of course, they got worse”.