An exhibition opens in Quarteira on August 11th celebrating nature, the sea and the sand and the textures of the Algarve’s natural landscape along her shores.
‘Oceanus’ is being held at the Praça do Mar Gallery in Quarteira where Maria Libéria Matos’ work will be on display until September 10th, while at the eastern end of the town, dead fish litter a well known natural area.
At the Foz do Almargem lagoon, hundreds of asphyxiated fish lie in an area of potential natural beauty that, due to official lethargy and indifference, has become another open sore on the Algarve’s landscape.
Local environmental organisation Almargem comments on the lack of action, "The years go by, but Foz do Almargem has not yet been irreparably destroyed but nothing is done to prevent the degradation of habitat."
This site was included in a 2009 rehabilitation project for the region's small coastal wetlands which was presented to the hydrographic board for the Algarve.
The plan for Foz do Almargem was never put into action, unlike the substantial work undertaken at the Salgados lagoon near Galé which now is a thriving bird and wildlife area that attracts the birding community from far and wide and is on many bird-related tours of the region.
Almargem has asked "Loulé council with the collaboration of all stakeholders, to devise, present and implement a recovery plan and environmental solution for Foz do Almargem, turning it into a real centre for nature in the Quarteira area."
‘Save Salgados’ activist and birding expert Frank McClintock of Paradise in Portugal said that Foz de Almargem has all the potential to be a wonderful natural area that will attract birds and wildlife in abundance if only it was correctly maintained and managed,
“It is shameful that local councils and public bodies supported by public funds seem uninterested in this type of natural resource and allows them to fall into disrepair - everyone loses out, locals, tourists and wildlife.”
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