Jorge Minhalma was, for some years, the last oyster producer in Cacela Velha. A week ago, after storm Ema hit the Algarve coast, he decided to stop fighting the many adversities he has been facing – and that have driven many others away from this activity –, he threw overboard the 400 oysters he had in his pond and gave up. The benches and bags, these, will be kept, away from water, and will only be used again "on the day someone does something for this estuary".
The Ria de Jorge Minhalma is that of Cacela Velha, the cove in front of this historic village that for centuries marked the end of the Ria Formosa, the Nascente. It was there that he explored, in the last 20 years, two nurseries that had previously belonged to his father-in-law, who had received them from his father. A heritage passed down from generation to generation that ends now, under the sand that entered the estuary through an open bar in 2010, with the aim of helping nurseries.
«The storm was the last straw. The silting up of the Ria, in that area, has been going on for some years, since the dam was opened. The storm has dealt the final blow. I have my nursery one meter high. From one tide to the other, oysters can only catch water for half an hour. It is impossible for them to survive being only that long under water», explained Jorge Minhalma to Sul Informação.
Sitting at the table at the commercial establishment he operates in Tavira – «this was the warehouse for my fish buying and selling business, which I had to leave» -, the last nurseryman in Cacela Velha explained what led him to give up.
«To be losing production, benches, bags and everything else, the best solution was to throw the juveniles overboard and keep only a few benches and bags, more like experience, to see if they die or survive and to be able to go get some if I feel like eating. When they do something for this Ria, we'll soon invest again», he said.
A decision that was certainly not taken lightly. «The investment I made was all, all. It was a total loss. Close to 400 oysters are gone. In 2012 the same thing had happened to me in another nursery I have in Cacela. There, I lost around 100 thousand units».
The siltation of the estuary, in that area, “is caused by the entry of sand from the primary dune. It is total chaos for the Ria Formosa, for the beach itself, which ceased to exist at high tide».
All because of an open bar in 2010, which changed local dynamics. So much so that, currently, the dune cordon in front of Cacela almost no longer exists. What there is is a kind of beach, with the sea reaching close to the cliff at high tide and retreating to the island at low tide, leaving a few areas with just a few centimeters of water.
O Sul Informação he spoke with Sebastião Teixeira, regional director of the Portuguese Environment Agency, who admits that "a generalized overtopping of the dune, which deposited sand in the estuary", took place in this area. "We are now analyzing the situation, to understand what will be done", he assured.
As for the choice of the place to open the bar, criticized by Jorge Minhalma, but also by Adrip – Association for the Defense, Rehabilitation, Research and Promotion of Natural and Cultural Heritage of Cacela, the responsible for the APA in the region pointed out that «the bar has already been open in front of the fort many times, over the centuries”, without this having endangered the cliff or jeopardized the local economic dynamics.
Until a few years ago, the bar opened in the Lacém area, west of Cacela. But this entrance “began to silting up and the water stopped leaking here in the area. The nurserymen pressured the entities to do something. But the solution found was to make a rip in the primary dune, in an area where one should not move», according to Jorge Minhalma.
At the time, the nurserymen did not contest the measure, relying on the technical expertise of the project's promoters. The same did not happen in relation to Adrip, which repudiated the decision and argued that it should not move forward.
"We have been making this alert since 2010. Adrip has since then been alerting not only to the environmental risk, but also to the property", he told the Sul Informação António Vicente, member of the association.
“We have a problem, not only from the socio-economic point of view, of the nurserymen and those with activities related to the estuary, but also the risk for the urban area of Cacela Velha and its heritage”, he reinforced.
On the one hand, the integrity of the cliff and, by extension, of the existing fort is at stake. “There has been an increase in the flow of water since the bar was opened. It has been accompanied by an overtopping of the primary dune, the spreading of the sands and the total destruction of the dune. In Cacela Velha, it has been noticed the water that comes closer to the wall. For some years now there is almost no margin at high tide», he described.
But Adrip does not forget the nurserymen and shellfish gatherers. “I think there is an attempt to move away from activities linked to the estuary and what matters is tourism and the three summer months. But for us, who live here, that is not what matters. The summer is three months, the rest of the year is nine», said António Vicente.
Jorge Minhalma is also concerned with the two dimensions of the problem. It was, moreover, with them in mind that he met, on Wednesday, the mayor of Vila Real de Santo António Conceição Cabrita, at a meeting which also attended members of Adrip.
“The problem is not just the nurserymen. The boatmen who usually transport to the beach will not work this summer, because, at high tide, a person passes by with water under their arms. This isn't deep for a laugh. On the island, there is no longer a beach, tourists will no longer be able to use it. And there is Cacela's heritage, which is also at risk. The path beside the fort no longer exists», he illustrated.
The president of the Chamber of VRSA wasted no time, after meeting with Jorge Minhalma and members of Adrip, and took advantage of the presence in the region of the minister of the Environment to ask him, in person, for a meeting, to talk about the question of Cacela Velha.
“We have to think about what we want to have there in Cacela, whether we want tourism or maintain the local heritage. In my opinion, we must keep the heritage. Our coast, so far, has had practically no damage, but I came to this meeting [at AMAL, with the minister, because of the damage caused by the storm] just to try to arrange a meeting with the minister of the Environment, so that he can hear our concerns, as the nurseries are in a critical situation», said Conceição Cabrita, in statements to our newspaper.
For the one who became the last producer of oysters in Cacela Velha, it is not necessary to invent any miraculous solution, just look to the past.
«An intervention similar to the one carried out in 1999 should be carried out, which consisted of de-silting the channel and strengthening the dune cord. Dredging will have to be carried out, as they did at the time. Then yes, the island was reinforced. They should also install walkways for people not to step on the dunes. I'm talking about the entire area that goes from the Factory to Manta Rota, which is all being affected. In 99, they did an excellent job and let him get lost,” he recalled.
The same cannot be said of the intervention that took place this century. “I've been the last producer for at least five years. The bar was opened in 2010 and as soon as they did, the nurseries that stood in front of it were all destroyed. These people gave up right away». The rest gave up over time.
Cacela once had “20 or 30 nurserymen” and entire families who made their living from the Ria Formosa. «Initially, they were almost all clam nurseries. In my father-in-law's time, that was what was done here. But nowadays there is nothing. There are people who, like me, continue to pay the licenses, but are not producing», assured Jorge Minhalma.
At the end of the XNUMXth century, producers in the Cacela and Fábrica areas began to invest heavily in oysters. Moreover, many people from the Algarve (and beyond) tasted this delicacy for the first time at the Fábrica restaurant, which became known throughout the country for the oysters it served.
“There are people who are able to differentiate Cacela oysters just by taste. A few days ago, a French couple who used to come here for oysters was here in my restaurant. At the end of eating, they asked: these oysters are not yours, are they? And I said no, they aren't. Theirs are different and we like them better, they have a hazelnut touch at the end, they said», he said.
Jorge Minhalma produces the variety crassostrea gigas, also known as Pacific oyster. Unlike most of the bivalve nurseries that currently exist in the Algarve, the oyster used by this producer is diploid, which reproduces, and not triploid, raised in maternity and sterile. «They don't reach the same size, but they have another flavor», he defended.
«We capture juveniles, in the nursery itself. We are removing it and, thus, we know that it is not contaminated. The French oyster has been attacked by the herpes virus, which leads to a very high mortality. In France, there are nurseries with more than 90% mortality rate'. A few years ago, Ria de Alvor oyster producers faced the same problem.
Until recently, using the juveniles he captured in his own nursery and in the Ria Formosa, Jorge had “almost no mortality”. But, more recently, it started to have losses, during the summer, because, «with the silting, we have to put the tables higher and the oysters, with the heat, bake». "This year, if I continued with that as it was, the oyster would die all over, I would have the cooked kernels."
Jorge Minhalma still maintains the hope that he will be able to produce again, even if it is in another part of the estuary. In 2012, it sought to exchange the license of one of its nurseries, which was razed – “I lost a hundred thousand oysters that year” – for another in the Tavira area.
“I went to the Ria Formosa Natural Park, to the Polis Society, I ran everything to see if they could find another nursery, in the Tavira area, of those that have been abandoned for many years, without producing and without paying licenses”, he said.
«I have been waiting for an answer from the Portuguese Environment Agency since then. The only alternative they give me is to move the nursery. But I tried and I couldn't. I don't understand why someone who wants to pay and produce can't keep licenses that haven't been paid for years», he vented.
As long as the sand continues to cover the nurseries where he can currently work and there is no opening on the part of the APA to grant a new license, in a place where conditions exist, Jorge Minhalma will only be able to look at the landscape that attracts so many tourists to Cacela Velha. He can still do this by tasting his oysters. Not the others anymore.
Photos: Fabiana Saboya |Sul Informação; Jorge Minhalma; Fatinha Afonso | ADRIP
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