“We've been waiting for this for a long time!” said Vidal Marreiros, 68, a fisherman for 40, and former president of the Municipal Assembly of Vila do Bispo, with a twinkle in his eye.
The old fisherman, who now has a comrade on his boat, to help him and learn the trade and to whom he intends to pass the boat later, was referring to the inauguration of the warehouses supporting artisanal fishing in Burgau, in the municipality of Vila of the Bishop, which were inaugurated this Friday.
The building is located in front of the beach, a few meters from the beach. «Before, what used to be here were some shacks, which even spoiled this area of the beach. Now, we have better conditions, we have support here, if we arrive at a later time, we can have a fish chest here, ice. Fishermen deserved this already,” he added.
In the same opinion is the mayor of Vila do Bispo, who considered this as "a project desired for many years, to put an end to the barracks once and for all". Adelino Soares added that the work cost a total of 230 euros, financed through the Promar program, of which 85 euros were an investment guaranteed by the Chamber.
Present at the ceremony, José Apolinário, Secretary of State for Fisheries, added that this "refurbishment was intended to give better conditions to fishermen who are still resisting here, but also to upgrade the Burgau beachfront."
And Burgau, which once had «13 boats with a deck and 40 fishing boats», is now reduced to around twenty fishermen. In the new warehouse, with ten spaces, only nine are already occupied. The four at the bottom are intended for coastal fishing vessels, the small trawlers used in the art of siege, with a company of at most half a dozen men, who fish for sardines, mackerel and mackerel.
The boats are in Lagos, in the port with better conditions, «but we needed these warehouses here, because we live in Burgau, and if, on a stormy day, you want to mend a net, you have conditions here», as explained by Mário Anastácio, 47 years old, fisherman since he was 15.
The six warehouses on the first floor are intended for local fishing vessels, often occupied by a single fisherman, more rarely by two.
"What we needed right here now was to have a person from Docapesca who could pass the guides so we could transport the fish from here to the Sagres or Lagos auctions, by land, without fear of being caught because we don't have a guide", he said. claim Vidal Marreiros.
At the short opening ceremony, the Secretary of State for Fisheries took the opportunity to talk to fishermen about the money that is available for «projects of small economic activity» linked to the sea, within the scope of CLLD: «it could be for a freezer, a machine ice, a van to better sell the fish or for other activities, namely those related to tourism and water sports».
For this, in the Barlavento Algarve, there are «about 3,5 million euros and there are technicians who can help you with projects and applications», urged José Apolinário. “The objective is to leverage projects of proximity, which help to maintain these small fishing communities, to give them dynamism and even to create some jobs”, explained the government official.
Photos: Elisabete Rodrigues|Sul Informação
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