Deputies Paulo Sá and João Ramos, from the PCP's Parliamentary Group, want to know if it is possible to change the marking and reconcile fishing and aquaculture activities on Ilha da Culatra, whose fishing community was affected by the creation of the Armona Pilot Area for Aquaculture Production ( Armona APPA).
In a question sent to the Ministry of Agriculture, Sea, Environment and Spatial Planning, PCP deputies point out that the creation of the APPA in Armona "came to impose a series of limitations on the fishing community of Ilha da Culatra".
The point is that “the vast majority of the 90 boats in that community are limited to using a fishing area between 1/4 mile and 3 miles from the coast and 6 miles on each side of the bar. It is precisely within this area, and occupying about half of it, that the APPA was delimited, which both inhibits the movement of fishermen and reduces the fishing area».
"In addition, one of the vertices of this area affects the project, the North/West beacon, is located very close to the coast, limiting the passage of boats and interfering in the bivalve production areas", they also point out.
«There being no other possibility to go out to sea, the boats have to go around the North/West beacon, sailing very close to the coast, which involves greater risk, aggravated in a period of storm, jeopardizing the safety of fishermen.
In addition, the need to circumvent the aforementioned mark, "requires additional fuel consumption, implying a lower profitability of fishing", underline the parliamentarians.
The Culatra Residents Association, a structure representing fishermen, has always contested the negative implications of creating that area. In such a way that, since the first licensing phase, in 2007 and 2008, it has filed a complaint on the matter.
"We were informed by the Residents' Association that the use of the lots is very limited, with only two currently being used in its function", say the Algarve deputy Paulo Sá and his colleague João Ramos.
"This is a good example of the conflict that can exist between the various uses of marine space, but also of the way in which communities and fishermen, who have never turned their backs on fishing activities, are now neglected by new activities without being properly compensated" .
The deputies recall that "this problem had already been posed to the Government in the previous legislature". The Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning, on February 25 of last year responded to the deputies that «ARH do Algarve considers that the phased implementation of limitations to crossing the APPA da Armona is not feasible, as well as it is not feasible to possible displacement of the beacon in this area'.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries, on February 18, 2011, assumed that “with regard to the displacement of the structure's beacon
North/West, 1 km further east, or removing 1 km from the structure in order to prevent it from being located in the Lavajo dam, as mentioned in the previous question, the matter will be analyzed with the competent authorities, having the utmost urgency in its analysis was requested'.
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