The removal of “several tons of algae” that have accumulated on Praia da Rocha and others, is estimated to be completed by the beginning of next week.
“It is a slow job that began on Monday and is being done using heavy machinery. Given the large amount of algae, we expect the removal to take a week,” Álvaro Bila, mayor of Portimão, told journalists.
The high concentration of algae on the beaches of Praia da Rocha and Praia do Vau in Portimão has been observed for two weeks, a phenomenon that "began to become more visible" last week with the spring tides, said the mayor.
“Although the accumulated quantity of these organisms is very significant, there was no need to close the bathing areas, unlike what happened last month, with the closure, for two days, of Barranco das Canas beach, known as Alemão beach”, he stressed.
In total, the mayor added, “120 trucks loaded with seaweed were removed from Alemão beach, which represents several tons of those marine organisms”.
Since 2021, large concentrations of brown and red algae, an invasive species of Asian origin, have been recurring on the beaches of the western Algarve.
The accumulation of these invasive species has led municipal and regional entities to classify this as “a normal situation”, according to the Portimão mayor.
“Given the recurrence of the phenomenon, since 2021 we have launched an annual procedure of €50,000 for cleaning the beaches, given that the municipality does not have heavy machinery for this type of service”, explained Álvaro Bila.
According to the mayor, beach cleaning only began on Monday “because there was an expectation that the sea would take the seaweed back”.
“As this did not happen, we had to move forward with cleaning with heavy machinery, carried out by a private company”, noted the mayor, stressing that, to date, no contamination of the water caused by algae has been detected.
The phenomenon is monitored by the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), which analyses the quality of bathing water on a daily basis.
Source https://www.algarveprimeiro.com/ - Photo by Luis Vital
