Wild boars bathe on this award winning Portuguese beach
For bathers who regularly visit this beach, the possibility of having to share the sand with wild boars is no longer strange. The wild boars that live among the vegetation of the Serra da ArrĂĄbida Natural Park, so the beach is just a stone's throw from their 'home'.
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In 2017, Praia dos Galapinhos won the title of Best European Beach, however, the difficult access to it means that some people give up visiting this little piece of paradise. Â
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But, it's not just humans who are attracted to the crystal clear waters of Praia dos Galapinhos, located in the middle of the Serra da Arråbida Natural Park. There, the cliffs that define the limits of the sand protect the place from strong winds and prevent the formation of waves, so the waters are ideal for wild boars to cool off. The presence of people, especially in the summer, doesn't even prevents them from swimming at Galapinhos.
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Organism similar to jellyfish has been spotted along the along the Algarve coast
A marine organism, similar to jellyfish and which rarely appears in coastal areas, has been appearing along the Algarve coast, but, unlike some jellyfish, its presence is harmless.
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Despite being an oceanic animal, the salp has been detected along the Algarve coast, which may be related to currents, because it is a species that feeds on phytoplankton and its movement is influenced by maritime movement, explained Joana Cruz, researcher at the Center for Marine Sciences (CCMAR) at the University of Algarve (UAlg).
It is a species of tunicate, invertebrate, measuring between 1 and 30 centimetres, which is âcompletely harmlessâ, unlike several species of jellyfish, which pose a risk to humans because they sting.
According to the researcher, these gelatinous and translucent, barrel-shaped organisms, very similar to jellyfish, have a very important role in capturing carbon from the oceans, helping environmental sustainability, but they are not usually found in coastal areas,
Joana Cruz usually carries out a lot of research work in coastal areas, for example in the lower estuary of the Guadiana River or even in the Ria Formosa, due to her specialization in phytoplankton, and âsalps never appearâ, she highlighted.
The expert believes that they have been dragged by the sea to coastal areas, because âthey cannot overcome the currentâ, especially when âthey grow very quickly - because they have very fast growth rates -, they enter a phase of chain volume and are draggedâ .
âIn terms of reproduction, they can have a solitary phase and another phase, in which they form colonies. They present two types of reproduction, when they are solitary they reproduce asexually, and it is with the salps that come from this asexual reduction that these colonies are formedâ, she said.
Joana Cruz highlighted that a colony is usually made up of âmany individuals clinging to each otherâ and the group can be âhundreds of metresâ long.
Feeding is done through body contractions that allow the âpumping of water to capture phytoplanktonâ and has the ability to âtransfer all the carbon that exists on the surface to deeper areasâ of the ocean.
âThrough, for example, feces, which are very large and accumulate a lot of carbon, and also from the animals themselves, from the salps that die, which end up sinking to deeper areas. This is good because carbon will be captured and, therefore, they are quite important in these processesâ, she highlighted.
According to Joana Cruz, because they are similar to jellyfish, people may be scared, but these organisms âdo no harmâ, because they do not have âstinging cellsâ, she reiterated.
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Tender launched for the construction of the Algarve Seawater Desalination Station
The tender for the design, construction and operation of the Seawater Desalination System in the Algarve region was published on Friday, in DiĂĄrio da RepĂșblica.
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The base price is 90 million euros and has a deadline of the end of 2026.
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The system will have an initial production capacity of 16 million m3 of water per year, with civil works prepared to increase capacity to 24 million m3 per year.Â
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âThis structural project for the region aims to guarantee the resilience of public supply to the population of the Algarve, particularly in periods of prolonged drought, through an increase in water availabilityâ, explains Ăguas do Algarve in a statement.
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The Algarve Seawater Desalination Station is part of a range of investments that Ăguas do Algarve is carrying out within the scope of the Algarve Water Efficiency Plan, under the Recovery and Resilience Program (PRR), and which will allow for increased water availability in the region by more than 69 million m3 per year.
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âAt a time of high complexity of processes, inherent to the challenges that water scarcity has brought to the Algarve region, and consequently to Ăguas do Algarve, I cannot fail to highlight the great effort made by the entire company and its employees, so that all the projects we are executing within the scope of the Water Efficiency Plan and incorporated into the PRR are being fulfilled in accordance with the previously established objectives, thus demonstrating the company's ongoing commitment to water efficiency and environmental sustainability in our regionâ, says AntĂłnio EusĂ©bio, president of Ăguas do AlgarveÂ
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Faro, Lagoa and Loulé: 3.1 magnitude earthquake felt
The Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA) have reported that an earthquake measuring 3.1 on the Richter scale was felt this Sunday, February 18th, in some municipalities in the Algarve in the late afternoon.
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The epicenter was located around 40 kilometres southwest of Faro at 6:16 pm in the Algarve, and was felt in the municipalities of Faro, Lagoa and Loulé. Did anyone feel it?
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âThis earthquake, according to the information available so far, did not cause any personal or material damageâ, reads the statement, released at 7:15 pm by the IPMA.
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According to the Richter scale, earthquakes are classified according to their magnitude as micro (less than 2.0), very small (2.0-2.9), small (3.0-3.9), slight (4.0-4.9), moderate (5.0-5.9), strong (6.0-6.9), large (7.0-7.9), important (8.0-8 .9), exceptional (9.0-9.9) and extreme (when greater than 10).
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