Lifeguard shortage leads to lack of beach supervision

The beach at Northumberland Provincial Park near Wood Islands, P.E.I., won't have lifeguards on Mondays or Tuesdays for the rest of the season.

Two lifeguards working in that region of the province left their contracts early.

Provincial lifeguard co-ordinator Matt Smith says attempts are ongoing to recruitreplacements, but it's a challenge.

'Very highly skilled position'

"To become a lifeguardthey have to go through a lot of training. It's a very highly skilled position that we need, so to find somebody to replace them is quite difficult," Smith said.

"We are still actively searching and doing our best to find [new lifeguards] so that we can replace them and keep supervision going."

Beach supervision ends at Northumberland on Aug. 23.

Not a very busy beach

Northumberland was chosen to have days without lifeguards because it's not as busy as many beaches, especially early in the week, Smith said.

Two lifeguards have to be on duty at all times. The pair left for their own reasons andnot because of any concerns, Smith said.

He advises people not to swim at a beach when it isunsupervised. He said the nearest supervised beach is Panmure Island, which has lifeguards seven days a week.

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