Seafood producers and nurserymen from Ria Formosa will protest today, Thursday, at 15 pm, in front of the regional delegation of the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (formerly IPIMAR), in Olhão.
The holding of this demonstration was decided in a plenary that brought together more than 500 professionals from the sector in the auditorium of that city and is a first form of fight against the “declassification” of the seafood areas of the Ria Formosa.
Other decisions that emerged from the meeting called by the Southern Fisheries Union and by the associations Cooperativa Formosa, residents of Ilha da Culatra, nurserymen and seafood producers of Ria Formosa and Olhão Pescas, were the requirement for exemption from fees for water resources and contributions to Social Security during the period in which the nurserymen and shellfish gatherers are prevented from exercising their activity.
Shellfish gatherers and nurserymen are contesting an order released about two weeks ago, based on an opinion from the IPMA.
This decision led to the reclassification of the Ria Formosa, previously with bivalve production areas classified as A and B, which now has predominantly C areas, those with lower environmental quality and that prevent sale to the public, even if the bivalves go to the debugger.
The associations that represent these professionals question the analyzes that served as the basis for the order and guarantee that they have tests, ordered by them, from 25 and 26 November, "which only give areas A and B".
«The IPMA put us in the hole, with the ground ready to receive the coffin!», illustrated the leader of the cooperative Formosa Augusto da Paz. «This decision is based on a year and a half of cockle analyses. A year and a half without asking us for a kilo of clams, whatever. Have you seen the shame?”, he asked, in the plenary session.
The meeting of professionals from the sector, which included the leaders of associations that represent them, with mayors and even a deputy to the Assembly of the Republic, served, on the one hand, to explain what led to the reclassification of the bivalve production zones, here and elsewhere in the country and to come up with proposals to try to turn around a situation that could lead thousands of people to abandon the activity.
In addition to the decisions taken in yesterday's plenary, there were other ideas that remained in the air. From the outset, the possibility of moving forward with a Provisional Providence.
On the other hand, Sílvia Padinha, from the Association of Residents of Ilha da Culatra, defended that classification B should be kept "temporarily", until new analyzes could be carried out "in the appropriate places and with the monitoring of the associations". "There are cases like that in the office," he added.
The leaders of Vivmar, from Faro, were very critical of the environmental attacks that the Ria Formosa, «which is a Natural Park», has been the target. “We have to hold the politicians responsible for the bad work they did and that led to this situation”, defended Vítor Lourenço, who added that “the councils are also to blame”, which still allow situations of illegal sewage discharge in the lagoon area.
On behalf of Olhão Pescas, the question arises: «How is it possible for the Ria Formosa to have the same classification as the Tagus River?».
Why pay fees?
One of the topics that was most talked about, and which turned out to be one of the issues deliberated in the plenary, was the fees that nurserymen pay for the land on which they carry out their activity.
«We are paying very high fees for a land that, by the looks of it, is not worth anything», explained Sílvia Padinha, urging the Portuguese Environment Agency to comment on the matter.
APA, as well as IPMA, the Ministries of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Environment and other public entities linked to the fisheries and environment sector, were invited to be present in the plenary, but were not represented.
The official version of the path that led to the disqualification was given by António Pina, mayor of Olhão, who, with the support of the PSD/Algarve leader, managed to convey to the Secretary of State the concerns of professionals and institutions in the Algarve .
According to the mayor, the “declassification” – a term used by all those involved to designate the reclassification – came after an inspection by the European Union to IPMA, last September.
“This inspection encountered non-conformities in the IPMA classification method. So, the EU said: either change this or we close the Portuguese bivalves». António Pina believes that this situation "scared" the Government, which wanted to quickly resolve the issue.
“But the Government's obligation was to have been concerned with the social consequences of the measure. They had to have been able to negotiate with Brussels”, in order to buy time to correct the situation, not least because “there is the possibility of guaranteeing that public health is not at stake”.
“The secretary of state suggested that new analyzes be carried out, so that the situation could be restored. Six tests are needed, done every 15 days. This took six months, until the situation was reversed. And how do people live in this period? They still don't do photosynthesis”, said António Pina.
Prime Minister must "take care of this"
“If Autoeuropa closed tomorrow, I'm sure the Prime Minister would be on top of the matter right away. What we are talking about here is the closing of the largest factory in the country, Ria Formosa. The Prime Minister is required to take care of this», considered António Pina.
The reclassification of the bivalve production zones in the Ria Formosa could lead to "more than 2 people in the Ria and around 500 in the oceanic part" leaving the activity, added the mayor, in order to understand the dimension of the social problem that arises. can create.
“No more unemployment and misery. What we want is work. Now, let us work», asked Vítor Lourenço, a position that Sílvia Padinha also reinforced. “We don't want support or subsidies. We want to be able to do our job», he said.
The only deputy to the Assembly of the Republic present, João Ramos, from the PCP, said he was caught "by surprise" with the reclassification of the Ria Formosa, as he had always heard "talk about the quality of seafood here", namely from the mouths of the current rulers.
The communists have already announced that will present a legislative initiative at the Assembly of the Republic, with short-term measures to ensure that professionals in the sector do not have to abandon the activity. In the medium/long term, it is necessary to intervene in the Ria Formosa, namely in terms of the dredging “announced 13 years ago and which has not yet been carried out”. “Have you been doing analyzes for three years, with these results and nothing was done? It is inadmissible!», considered the MP of the PCP.
Comments