About two dozen shellfish gatherers and nurserymen in the Ria Formosa demanded today, Friday, the advance of dredging in the Ria Formosa. The members of Vivmar – Association of Shellfish Collectors and Nurseries of Ria Formosa considered that the environmental recovery of the Ria should have advanced long ago and before any other work by Polis.
“This is happening here is a shame! First you clean the Ria inside, then you clean the outside. Now, letting it rot inside, leaving these people who live in the Ria to starve and go on doing these shows, is a shame», considered the leader of the association Vítor Lourenço, present at the protest.
The nurserymen's indignation is also directed at the Ria Formosa Natural Park and the association promises to take a measure of strength next week. "We are going to demand the Government to dismiss the current director of the park, because this is an institution that has not served Ria Formosa in any way," announced the president of Vivmar Américo Custódio.
The president of Vivmar outlined a black scenario, ensuring that there are more and more nurserymen abandoning the activity. «In the county of Faro there are a thousand and such nurseries. But, currently, the capacity of the nurseries is none. The capacity we have to produce will be around 15 to 20 percent. The entire staff has abandoned the activity, the land is all spoiled», he assured.
In question the lack of environmental conditions in the ecosystem, due to the lack of oxygenation of the water. Problems that are solved, they defended, with dredging and opening of the bars, namely the Barrinha that separates Praia de Faro from the island of Barreta.
“This harms the entire ecosystem, not just the bivalves, but all the species that exist in the Ria Formosa. And it is easy to see that, with the siltation that exists today in the Ria, water circulation is not taking place, there is a great imbalance in the currents and the channels are all degrading. At the moment we are not preserving anything, as the Park's technicians defend”, with the prohibitions on harvesting that they impose, he guaranteed.
Vivmar refused to participate in a meeting with Polis and Chamber
«What was said there [at the consignment ceremony for the Parque Ribeirinho de Faro], is of little interest to Vivmar. The invitation that the president of the Chamber made for us to meet now with the Polis, we are also not going to accept. We want to have a meeting exactly like this one: start of the dredging work», said Vítor Lourenço.
Despite criticism, he admitted that the work released today "is welcome" and even "should have been done a long time ago." «But first we have to treat the Ria, because the bivalves are born inside the Ria and not in the supermarket», defended Vítor Lourenço.
The also president of the Parish Council of São Pedro accused the mayor of «compromising with the Polis Society, because this dredging work is a priority», recalling that «they were the ones who gave it its name».
«We've been tangled up with meetings for a number of years, with postponements and promises, but the dredging has not been done. That is why we are indignant with what is going on here», he justified, speaking of the refusal to meet with the local authority and the Polis Society.
“For four years now, we've been told that dredging will move forward soon. They say the same every year», added Vítor Lourenço, regarding the guarantees given moments before by the president of Sociedade Polis Manuel Lacerda. “We don't participate in any more meetings, as we are not clowns to walk around here making fools of ourselves”, he concluded.
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