In recent weeks, hundreds of fish have died in the Seixe River due to the impact of drought, bad weather and fires.

The lack of water is causing problems in the rivers of Aljezur, such as the Seixe, where hundreds of fish have died in recent weeks due to the impact of drought, bad weather and fires, said a local authority source.

António Carvalho, Environment Councillor for the Aljezur Municipality, explained that the lack of water in the rivers is causing the tides to carry sediment and block the exit to the sea from these water courses, creating small areas where the fish get blocked and end up dying.

The lack of water is also compounded by its lower quality due to the debris carried by the last rains and resulting from the fire that broke out in Odemira last August and later spread to Aljezur and Monchique, explained the same source.

“About four weeks ago, there were more intense tides, which covered the estuary [of the Seixe River, also called a ribeira] in Odeceixe,” said the councillor, stressing that the situation also occurs at the mouths of the Aljezur rivers, which flow into in the Atlantic Ocean at Amoreira and Bordeira beaches, both in that municipality.

António Carvalho stressed that this phenomenon is a “consequence” of the lack of rain and water that affects the Algarve and Baixo Alentejo and is “inevitable” because “sooner or later the estuary is covered” due to “sand which is increasingly being deposited” at the mouth of the river, he clarified.

In the Seixe River, what happened was that “there was an entry of saltwater fish into a freshwater area when there was a more intense tide. These were then unable to get out, remained there and ended up dying”, he explained.

The Aljezur City Council has been monitoring the three ribeiras every week, together with the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), through the Administration of the Hydrographic Region of the Algarve (ARH), said the councillor, guaranteeing that, “to date, there have been no worrying results.”

The Council has been concerned for some time, “we spoke with the APA/ARH and ICNF [Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests] already a year ago, and have even held some field meetings with them to see whether we find solutions that are more or less definitive, or more or less effective, to guarantee the estuary remains open. But it is difficult given this lack of water”, he acknowledged.

António Carvalho observed that the sediments had been removed, with specific machinery, to allow the reopening of the estuaries in Aljezur, and added that the Odemira Council has already started work to reopen the mouth of the Seixe River, which divides the two municipalities and separates the Algarve from the Alentejo.

Odemira Council organised an intervention last Tuesday, monitored by the ARH and ICNF. “But as these entities do not have the financial capacity to do the contracting, the councils end up replacing them”, he said, adding that the Aljezur Council will carry out the subsequent intervention on the river.

The Aljezur councillor stated that the Odemira City Council rented a rotating machine to remove the sand and open the mouth of the river but considered that this was a “very short-lived” intervention because the sea will once again drag sediment and the estuary will become blocked again.

António Carvalho also announced that the municipalities of Aljezur, Odemira and Monchique laid the foundations for a collaboration to create an integrated landscape management area on Monday.

The councillor concluded that this partnership would bring parishes and local associations together to “intervene in the landscape mosaic, create a more resilient area and rethink the forest” in a scenario increasingly marked by drought and lack of water.