COURTESY OF THE CAPE COD NATIONAL SEASHORE
WELLFLEET – This summer, officials for the Cape Cod National Seashore have decided not to hold its lifeguard training program for teens, citing sharks and inadequate staffing.
While there are enough life guards covering regular shifts during the summer, there were not enough for the junior program, which runs three mornings a week from the first week of July to the first week of August.
“We’ve been struggling to get to adequate staffing for our lifeguards to cover our beaches for many years and it was a difficult decision to decide to suspend the program for this year for our junior life guards but one that we felt was in the best interest of our visiting public,” said Brian Carlstrom, Superintendent of the Cape Cod National Seashore.
There were two great white shark attacks on people last summer, one of the victims was a body-boarder who was killed in shallow water at Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet.
In response to the presence of great whites, Orleans decided not to issue any permits to surf schools, however Wellfleet and the Cape Cod National Seashore said they would continue to allow surf camps.
When asked if he would ever consider bringing the program back, Carlstrom said, “We definitely will.”
“It’s a program that we do realize is highly valued and if we have staff that can support it we will consider bringing it back in the future.”
The program was made up of mostly local kids, between ages 13 to 17, who would participate in long distance swims and various fitness routines, learn to use paddleboards, learn CPR, first aid, rescue techniques, resource protection, and how to interact with the public.
By: LUKE LEITNER, CapeCod.com News Center
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