Quarpesca - Association of Fishermen Shipowners of Quarteira is "completely against" the project that aims to create a Protected Marine Area of Community Interest (AMPIC) in Armação de Pêra Bay, since the «fishing community in the Algarve will be greatly harmed and penalized».
This association represents 134 professional fishing vessels located all over the Algarve.
Quarpesca, which has already expressed its displeasure in the past, manifests itself, in a statement, against the AMPIC project in Armação de Pêra and its molds.
The first step of the project, as explained by the newspaper Terra Ruiva, was «a survey of transdisciplinary information, promoted by the Foundation, in partnership with the University of Algarve and in particular with CCMAR, aiming to establish a Protected Marine Area of Community Interest on the coast southern Algarve. The area in question is comprised between the farol of Alfanzina (western limit) and Albufeira marina (eastern limit), and extends to a depth of 30m, totaling a total area of 94,5 square kilometers».
According to habitat and marine biodiversity mapping studies carried out between 2003 and 2017, 889 species were identified in this area, 19 of them with conservation status, such as groupers and seahorses.
Quarpesca, in this communiqué, reports that «fisher producer associations and organizations representing the sector are no longer represented, which has led to some fishermen going to demonstrate their dissatisfaction at the last AMPIC meeting with the entire process. it has been carried out, promoting tourist activities to the detriment of fishing and the social implications that an area such as the one foreseen will entail”.
In Quarpesca's opinion, the «Algarve fishing community will be greatly harmed and penalized by AMPIC as many boats use the area for fishing».
AMPIC, accuses the association, "has been conducted without consulting and listening to the opinions of fishing professionals."
Quarpesca gives the example of the recent question of red corals, saying that the objective, declared by the Ministry of the Sea to protect 30% of our maritime territory, is "an exaggeration", fearing "that in the future arguments such as those we have seen recently in the media about corals will appear".
"There is no fishing aimed at corals on the part of fishermen", concludes the association, which also emphasizes the fact that it is one of the "most concerned with the protection of the aquatic environment"
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