“We are also reviewing the model so that next year, outside the bathing season, there will be more flexible teams available, more at weekends, depending on the weather, to ensure surveillance throughout the year,” stated Maria da Graça Carvalho during the ceremony marking the official start of the bathing season at Praia de Carcavelos, in the Lisbon district.
Recalling that this year “deaths occurred outside the bathing season on beaches that were not monitored,” the minister expressed her desire to “prevent this from happening again or at least minimize” such occurrences.
Two deaths, 14 rescues, and 58 first aid actions on Portuguese beaches were reported by the National Maritime Authority (AMN) for May, the first month of the 2025 bathing season.
According to the AMN, from May 1 to 31, 14 rescues and 58 first aid actions were recorded, along with two drowning fatalities at Pedrógão Beach in the Leiria district, a non-supervised beach at the time of the incident on May 25, as the bathing season there runs only from June 7 to September 14.
Officially, the bathing season begins on June 1, but municipalities are free to start it before or after that date.
