The rainy morning did not invite boat trips on the Ria Formosa, but the deputies of the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture and the Sea «did not come tothe Algarve on vacation», but to get to know the problems of the fishing community of Fuseta, who every day risk their lives to earn a living, due to the silting up of the bar, which complicates the movement of boats during low tide.
The Fuseta fishing owners were received in Parliament in December by the same Commission that has now visited and seen up close what had been told to them in the capital.
The tourist boat, full of deputies – 20 in all – left the pier just after 9 am, at a time when, due to the low tide, sailing in Barra da Fuseta is an exercise in skill to avoid the sandbanks.
Comments about the shallow depth of the estuary began to be heard a few minutes after departure. "It's so close, I can see the sand, it's not more than half a meter deep," exclaimed a deputy.
In the background, a fishing boat, returning from work, was “fighting” against a sandbank, expelling sand behind it. "The one in the back is lucky if he doesn't get stuck," explains one of the shipowners, who guides the visit, to the deputies. «Every day we risk our lives here».
Even before his return, a guarantee was given to Manuel Sousa, president of the Union of Parishes of Moncarapacho and Fuseta, by one of the members of the delegation: “the secretary of state will arrange a meeting with you”.
After the short walk, which lasted no more than twenty minutes, deputies, local mayors and shipowners met in the Parish Council library and, this time, it was the president of the Parliamentary Committee Vasco Cunha to ensure that the group will work on the case. .
«We were able to see in person what had already been said to us in Lisbon. At this moment, a contact must be made with the Secretary of State so that we, as the Commission, can pressure him to take measures”, he assured.
The president of the Union of Parishes of Moncarapacho and Fuseta liked what he heard and said he was “satisfied, because all the members of the commission showed their intention to take the matter in hand, which ends up being consensual”. After all, for the mayor, «the deputies came here, saw and suffered on the spot the difficulties of navigating this bar».
Humberto Gomes, president of the Fuseta Fishing Shipowners Association, commented with the Sul Informação that the deputies “were even lucky that the weather wasn't too bad. It's good that you came here to see for yourself. There is a lack of safety at the bar and this complicates the profitability of the boats, which, here, do perhaps half the days of fishing than in Olhão or Tavira, for example. There are situations in which the boats leave and, if when they return, the tide is low, they have to wait for it to fill up again to be able to unload the fish, and that devalues it».
The deputies continued their journey and the fishermen continued their adventure of day-to-day, that the Sul Informação found on the spot how dangerous it can be. 
"Look, if you want to see how dangerous this is, come here, there's just been an accident here," exclaims one of the fishermen who accompanied the visit and, therefore, recognized the journalist's face.
"A man has just fallen here," he said, pointing to a boat leaning against the pier.
In some points, the sandbanks at low tide do not allow boats to approach the access stairs, forcing fishermen to climb over the tallest boats to reach land. One of the fishermen trying to do this ended up falling overboard, being injured during the fall.
INEM was there to assist the victim of an accident that Fuseta fishermen hope will have no reason to happen in the near future.
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