Portugal’s Minister of the Sea, Ana Paula Vitorino, said today that the proposed 15-year sardine fishing ban, as proposed by the European Commission’s scientific advisors, is "unthinkable."

Vitorino, was speaking to the press during her protocol signing visit to Portimão, (here) stating that Portugal’s sardine catch for next year will be set this October after the species is monitored during August “with three scientific expeditions by staff from the Portuguese Institute Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA) to assess the state of the stock."

The Minister of the Sea, Ana Paula Vitorino and the Defence Minister, José Alberto de Azeredo Lopes, visited the Algarve on Tuesday to attend two ceremonies.

The first marked the start of safety work on sea defences and stairs at the ports of Portimão, Lagos and Sagres and to present the Costa Segura system for coastal surveillance and navigation safety.

Portugal has received less than half of its allocation of refugees from the processing camps in Italy and Greece.

The European Commission reports that Portugal has taken in 1,400 people: 1,101 from camps in Greece and 299 from camps in Italy but slow progress is being made.

Loulé council has marked the beginning of September as the opening date to open a new space dedicated for new projects to be dreamt up and ‘incubated.’

Projects in the creative industries may soon be housed in the calm of the Convento Espírito Santo where the new Design Lab will be established for the creation, research and experimentation of new projects that focus on design and that show 'a strong connection to culture and the local economy.'

Praia dos Salgados, between Armação de Pêra and Galé, in Albufeira has been closed to bathers due to too much shit in the water.

The Portuguese Environment Agency says there is ‘microbiological contamination’ and that "The beach is red-flagged and swimming has been banned by the health authorities."

Last week’s hurried forestry reforms, rushed through after a mammoth all-night session of the agriculture committee, were a political imperative after the devastating fires at Pedrógão Grande which killed an estimated 64 people and injured 200.

Such has been the public anger at the forestry industry, blamed for the close planting of highly combustible eucalyptus trees, failing to establish fire breaks and planting right up to roadsides, the government decided that the planting of eucalyptus from now on only may be carried out with the say-so of the Institute for Nature and Forest Conservation.

"There are prejudices in the Portuguese judicial system," according to the European Court of Human Rights which has reviewed the case of Maria Ivone Morais whose compensation was cut as she was over 50, and sex for the over 50s woman “is not so important.”
 
Sra Morais pursued a compensation claim for medical malpractice after an operation left her in pain when walking, sitting and certainly when having sex.

Approaching flames have forced the evacuation of the Hotel do Sado after a fire broke out in Casal dos Combros, at the entrance to Setúbal.

Houses are threatened, the flames are uncontrollable and people are fleeing with their belongings.