“Ideally, if every weekend [with good weather], at least the bathing areas were monitored, we would certainly drastically reduce the number of accidents”, said José Archer.

Asked by journalists whether the officially defined bathing season (from May 1st to October 30th) should be extended, the official said that “ideally” this would be a solution, pointing out, however, two problems.

On the one hand, he recalled, there is “difficulty with the labour force”, referring to the lack of lifeguards.

“In some regions of the country it is very difficult, even during the bathing season, to have a supply of lifeguards qualified for this position,” he said.

Outside of the bathing season, he added, "if the beach support structures are not even in place, it is very difficult to demand that any municipality provide the beach with these conditions", although, in some areas of the country, namely in the Algarve, there is surveillance on the beaches on weekends with more crowds, such as Easter.

The official also recalled that beaches with a blue flag “must have surveillance” and that the criteria nowadays “are very strict”, which allows in terms of results “to have practically zero fatal accidents throughout the bathing season”, although there are “obviously exceptions”.

Regarding the number of accidents in unsupervised areas outside the bathing season, José Archer classified the situation as “worrying” and noted that “it has not decreased”.

In April, the president of the Portuguese Federation of Lifeguards (FEPONS), Alexandre Tadeia, argued that the bathing season "cannot be restricted to summer only" and advocated an increase in water safety education.

“The bathing season cannot be restricted to just the summer, it has to be much more dynamic, just like the fire season. It has to be all year round because we use the beaches all year round”.