Clean-up of the Porto da Baleeira * Sagres

It was this last Saturday that we went to help with another annual clean-up of the Porto da Baleeira. The harbour is one of the most touristy and emblematic places in Sagres, and a working place for fishing and for tourist activity companies (diving, boat trips, fishing, whale and dolphin watching).

As such it ought to be one of the best-kept places in Sagres, as thousands of people pass through it over the year, besides the people who work there every day.

However, there is a great deal of carelessness, and the ground, the beach, the stones of the breakwater, the inside of the boats, etc., serve as a dump for kilos of glass bottles, plastics, fishing ropes and lines, timber, scrap iron, etc.

Sadly, the regular cleaning does not go much beyond emptying the bins, plus the occasional pass with a street-sweeping machine along the main streets of Sagres, and all the other streets, nooks and corners, beach sand and cliffs are left to gather rubbish. Especially as Sagres is such a windy place, the rubbish is blown everywhere. It is very sad to walk along a clifftop, in the middle of nature, on a beach, at the harbour, and see rubbish all around us, when what we are looking for is Nature, fresh air and harmony around us.

This voluntary initiative by the Divers Cape Diving Centre and Cape Cruiser is excellent; however, it needs help from the local council and more professional means of cleaning, namely to clean all the stones along the Porto da Baleeira, which collect rubbish underneath one another and are impossible for volunteers to clear without the means to do so.

Another very important action is raising environmental awareness among the fishermen, so as to reduce the rubbish thrown on the ground and into the sea.

To finish, we would like to say that we loved taking part in this clean-up :)