First certified lifeguards start watching beaches

TIRANA, July 2 – With the summer season already in full gear, dozens of Albanian sandy and rocky beaches are now safer thanks to the first forty certified lifeguards, locally known as Baywatch after the popular U.S TV series on the coast of California.
More than a dozen watchtowers have been set up in the country’s most popular beaches along the 362 km coastline. Nine of the lifeguards are women and three of them are now monitoring the Golem beach and the “Shkembi i Kavaj쳢 beach, some 50 km from Tirana.
The training of the first certified lifeguards in neighbouring Montenegro was made possible by the newly established National Coastal Agency.
The Albanian National Coastal Agency says this model of coastal administration will also extend along the entire coastline. “The collaboration with private business is having a successful impact and the result of this would be the creation of safer holidays during the summer season.”