The Environment Minister said on Wednesday that compensation for fishermen affected by the creation of the Recife do Algarve-Pedra do Valado Marine Natural Park is a first in Portugal.
Maria da Graça Carvalho was in Albufeira this Wednesday, at the presentation of the marine natural park created in front of Albufeira, Silves and Lagoa, and considered that the The 1.2 million euros that will be allocated to fishermen through the Environmental Fund are “already a substantial amount”“.
“Today has been a very good day, it is the first time that compensation has been made in Portugal for a natural park, In this case it is compensation to the fishermen for seeing their activity reduced, limited, it is not prohibited, but it is limited.because there are some conditions set by the ICNF [Instituto de Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas]”the government official told reporters at the end of the ceremony.
The Minister of the Environment said that it is a “fantastic park, with a very large number of species, species that were not known until now”, in an area that has “an enormous wealth in this area of the Algarve” and as a result of a process that “went very well, that was born from civil society, born in the community”.
The Minister highlighted the participation of the mayors of the three municipalities involved, “from different political forces, who came together, reached an agreement and counted on the community and the people, and on the fishermen’s associations”, thus generating “an exemplary process” that led to the creation of this protected area facing the Algarve.
Maria da Graça Carvalho recalled that the creation of the park was made in a resolution of the previous government and stressed that the action of the current executive was “concrete” with “an order that was published today by the Environmental Fund” and that “gives this compensation to the fishermen of 1.2 million euros”.
And the application form for fishermen who have boats and can prove that they fish in this area is already on the Environmental Fund website,” he said.
The minister stressed that there was a “broad and in-depth study by the University of Agrave and the Blue Ocean Foundation” to identify the criteria for granting compensation, which depend on aspects such as “the history of fishing in recent years.”
“And so it is a very successful process in all aspects, in the connection between public policies and academia and scientific research, involving fishermen, the community and local authorities, an example to follow,” he said, considering that the work to create the marine park “was an example, it is pioneering” and should serve “as a model for the next” territories that are classified.
Asked whether the construction of a desalination plant in Albufeira to deal with the drought affecting the Algarve was not incompatible with the park, the minister replied that “they are not incompatible projects.”
TO The desalination plant is a very important project for the Algarve region, water is an essential good, vital for human life, the scarcity of water in the Algarve is recognized.”We are already acting permanently, firstly to save water, secondly to reduce losses, thirdly to reuse and fourthly to increase existing infrastructure, but in the case of the Algarve all these measures are still not enough, we need new sources of water, that is why we are taking water from the Guadiana in Pomarão, and preparing and studying other possibilities,” he argued.
Maria da Graça Carvalho said that the water catchment from Pomarão will also be included in an agreement that she plans to sign with the Spanish authorities in September, opening up the possibility for Portugal to take water from this Portuguese-Spanish river to the Odeleite dam, in the east of the Algarve.
Source: Observadora
