The summer bathing season’s death toll at Portugal's beaches - May 1 to September 29 - was seven.
This decrease of almost 60% compared to 2013, when 12 people died, is welcome news despite the target being zero.
Only one case was reported for the Algarve region. It involved a Portuguese woman who drowned at Praia do Cabeço in Vila Real de Santo António in mid-August.
The figures compiled by the National Maritime Authority showed only one fatality at a beach that was supervised by lifeguards - the sudden death of an 86-year old man at São Martinho near Nazare.
The remaining six cases were at unsupervised areas and all but one, a 63-year old Russian man, were Portuguese nationals – five men and one woman.
During the season there were 472 incidents that required lifeguard intervention, with 802 calls for first aid assistance and 159 successful searches for lost children.
