All profiles of Alan Friedlander emphasize that the professor at the University of Hawaii spent more than 10,000 hours underwater. Moreover, in all types of seas, from the polar zones to the vicinity of the equator. The American scientist who is interviewed in this Sunday edition of DN has also dived extensively in Portugal, from Selvagen to the Algarve, from Arrábida to the Azores. And it is in this archipelago in the middle of the Atlantic that it contributes to the ambitious Blue Azores marine protection program, which aims to cover 15% of the Azores waters and double that percentage by 2030. And all this in the name of a sustainable economy that allows people who have been associated with the sea for centuries to continue walking there for many years in search of food, naturally.
Blue Azores brings together the regional government, the Oceano Azul Foundation, and the Whitet Institute, an American foundation that supports the islands in coral restoration and fisheries. And when such a resilient or blue economy is the target, it doesn’t just mean boat trips for tourists to see whales or dolphins, with old whalers acting as guides. In fact, and Friedlander stresses this, the sanitization of certain marine areas ultimately leads to the fact that in the medium term the seas generally become richer in fish, because there are no obstacles at the bottom and sooner or later the growth of schools will be noticed. fishermen, in this case from the Azores.
On the other hand, in my youth in Setubal I dived a lot near Troy and also to Arrabida, an amateur spearfishing that was tolerated at the time. And unfortunately, I’ve seen some brutal fishing methods (not diving), especially with bivalve molluscs, destroy what seemed indestructible. Consequently, the importance of establishing protected areas in the waters near the Arrábida Mountains is a measure that was difficult for fishermen to understand at first, but which today ensures that those who go to restaurants in Setubal to eat good fresh grilled fish do indeed have the opportunity to sample the mullet from Sado. Trawlers and boats at the fishing pier are not decorative.
Anyone who knows the history of Portugal knows how the sea shaped the country. This opened up horizons for a nation that would otherwise always be limited by the small size of the earth’s territory. Today, the sea, especially this exclusive economic zone of almost two million square kilometers, can be a great asset for building Portugal’s future. And that will include many aspects, from tourism to clean energy, some of which will be more realistic and others chimerical. But protecting marine life will always be the backbone of the vitality of Blue Portugal. Friedlander, a man who enjoys whale diving, says what is happening in the Azores is so positive that “the Portuguese can show the way to the rest of Europe.”
