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Save lives and promote economic development!
Construction of a Marine Safety Center at Rosarito Beach in Baja California will improve monitoring of beachgoers and shorten ocean rescue and medical response times. This upgrade in public safety resources will spur growth of one of the region's top economic drivers: tourism.
BACKGROUND:
Rosarito Beach is a popular oceanfront recreation zone in northern Baja California, Mexico that attracts locals, residents of Greater Tijuana and Americans throughout the year. A team of professional lifeguards was created in response to dozens of drownings in 1975. In 2017 alone, Rosarito Beach lifeguards rescued 70 swimmers and delivered hundreds of medical treatments in addition to monitoring more than 800,000 beachgoers. Nonetheless, five drowning deaths in that year show that additional improvements are needed to ensure beachgoer safety.
Currently, Rosarito Beach lifeguards patrol a five-kilometer stretch of busy oceanfront and maintain a 100-kilometer on-call emergency response zone that stretches from Tijuana to Ensenada. During the busy spring and summer seasons, as well as holiday periods, up to 20 lifeguards staff five small portable towers along the oceanfront in the Rosarito Beach tourism district. Lifeguard supervisors and off-season lifeguards work from a remote beach-blind public safety facility in the town center.
Moving all lifeguards and their equipment from the town center to the proposed oceanfront Marine Safety Center (MSC) would improve situational awareness of existing and emerging dangers, and dramatically shorten ocean rescue, rescue back-up and medical aid response times throughout the year. Moreover, the MSC would help meet the U.S. Lifesaving Association standard of one drowning death per 18 million guarded swimmers.
Tourism drives economic development and eradication of poverty in Baja California, while employing various personnel at all levels, ranging from unskilled workers to hospitality industry executives. Safe beaches provide confidence for beachgoers that will spur additional visits and encourage investments in the tourism sector.
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