Lusa spoke to representatives of several fishermen's associations along the Algarve coast and everyone expressed their concern, complaining about the lack of dredging at the entrance to the ports which, in some cases, forces fishermen to have to wait for the high tide.

“Dredging has not yet started, and along the coast, the security conditions are worsening, with the most serious cases being the situation in the Tavira and Fuseta bars,” said the president of the Algarve Fisheries Producers Organisation (Olhão Pesca), Alberto Miguel Cardoso.

In August 2023, the Government approved a budget of 6.9 million euros for the dredging and maintenance of ports in the Algarve, to be carried out between 2023 and 2026, authorising the General Directorate of Natural Resources, Security and Maritime Services (DGRM) to incur this expense.

The director of Olhão Pesca, which groups together owners of 184 vessels, expressed concern about “navigability and safety problems”, recalling that, until around 30 years ago, the former Port and Maritime Transport Institute had a dredger working permanently, throughout the year, in the Algarve's navigation channels.

“Maintenance was constant and that is over. We should return to the methods of the past and the administration that manages the bars should have the capacity to dredge whenever they want”, he said, considering that the 6.9 million euros approved by the Government “is not even enough to dredge two bars”.