Landes. Lifeguards will now be present on the beaches all year round.

Faced with increasing tourist numbers outside the summer season and an increased risk of accidents , the municipalities of Landes are going to experiment with a "system unprecedented in Europe" with lifeguards to watch over the beaches all year round.

Based on an Australian model, this Landes system is "unprecedented in France and even in Europe," its promoters assured on Friday.

In total, 24 lifeguards will be recruited from October 1st to "expand the seasonal wings" and ensure "monitoring" of the 106 km of beaches in the department, or 38 beaches, throughout the year and not just in summer.

"Today, as soon as there is a ray of sunshine, there are people on the beach, regardless of the time of year," notes Hervé Bouyrie, mayor of Messanges and president of the joint swimming pool management association.

With patrols and teams spread across three sectors, in the south, center and north of the department, "the system will be activated as soon as the weather is nice, on weekends or during school holidays," explains Hervé Bouyrie.

The department has been increasingly visited since Covid, by a public who "do not have the necessary caution or even awareness of the risk," notes the president of the Landes Department, Xavier Fortinon.

The number of tourist overnight stays has thus increased from 24 to 28 million, of which almost 80% are reserved on the coast.

The budget for the experimental system, which coastal municipalities will be running until December 2027, is €2.7 million, of which €1.2 million is funded by the Department. The entire beach surveillance system, consisting of 475 lifeguards, including around twenty CRS (riot police), costs local authorities €7.6 million each year.

"We are fighting to maintain a minimum number of CRS, but from one year to the next, we don't know if we will have them and if current events require it, they can leave suddenly," regrets Xavier Fortinon.

The beach monitoring plan is associated with a prevention and education component in schools and associations, and a training plan for young people from Landes, future lifeguards.