The closure of Tavira’s only fuel station dedicated to fishing boats is putting around 50 vessels – and the livelihoods of the families who depend on them – in jeopardy.
Mário Gonçalves, from the Association of Shipowners and Fishermen of Tavira (APTAV), said that “the unexpected closure of the only station in the port of Tavira for local and coastal fishing vessels, and without any alternative, seriously compromises the activity of about half a hundred boats.”
As he told Lusa news agency, the station was shut down for maintenance on November 26 without warning or any replacement service in place.
Fishermen were “caught by surprise” as “no prior notice or alternative was provided,” he added.
The company operating the service reportedly told APTAV that it had no role in the decision to close the station and only learned of it at the moment of shutdown. Efforts to obtain a temporary solution have so far gone unanswered, Gonçalves added.
The situation, he stressed, threatens the direct livelihood of dozens of families who “find themselves prevented from working due to lack of fuel.”
The closest fueling options are now in Fuseta, Olhão, Vila Real de Santo António, or even across the border in Spain – distances that are impractical and too expensive for small seven- to eight-meter vessels, he said.
The ferry company operating between Tavira and the nearby islands was also caught off guard by the closure, Lusa reports.
APTAV is appealing to the responsible authorities and Galp, which operates the station, to urgently find a temporary solution for fuel supply, in order to ensure that fishing activity can continue and to avoid “irreversible economic and social damage to the affected communities.”
