The Tagus fishermen's movement has filed a lawsuit at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg against the Portuguese government, claiming compensation of €100 million for ‘a decade of inactivity.’"The government has been negligent, incompetent and conniving," said Mário Costa of the Fishermen's Movement, adding that there is a law firm providing the movement with pro bono legal support, and the action, based on ‘a decade of inactivity,’ was sent to Strasbourg and accepted on Thursday 1st February.
Mario Costa said that the situation has been allowed to drag on, which has had a "very large" social impact in the fishing community of the river Tagus.
In 2012 there were 1,091 registered fishermen on the river, now there are 46, and of these, only half a dozen still manage to make a living from the river.
The result of pollution has been "broken families and fishermen with cars, houses and boats seized," said Costa.
The movement’s leader explained that they will wait to see who is found responsible and that if they win in the European Court of Human Rights, the fishermen will be willing to use the money to repopulate the river’s missing fish stocks.
Mário Costa added that, "it is urgent that the Ministry of the Environment orders the opening of the Fratel and Belver dams and negotiates with Spain to release water to cleanse the sediments and remove the anaerobic matter."
