The task is being organised from the Municipal Police headquarters in Funchal (Madeira) and aims to “exercise state authority in terms of monitoring, surveillance and navigation safety”.
In a statement, the Captaincy of Funchal explained that “from 22 August it will be possible to ensure the effective exercise of state authority, particularly with regard to monitoring, surveillance and safety of navigation, and also support the relevant action developed in the protection and preservation of the marine environment, people and property, in the most Southern part of the country.”
Subsequent reports elaborate two Maritime Police officers will be patrolling the islands, to “reinforce safety and Portuguese sovereignty” of the territory, which belongs to the Madeira archipelago.
The watch-guards will be based permanently on the Savage Islands, for which improvements to existing facilities were necessary. These included the installation of a radar, a water desalination plant and energy supply systems.
However, the decision to patrol the islands has been criticised by the Socio-Professional Association of Maritime Police (ASPPM), which disagrees with a permanent post being opened on the Islands.
In a statement, the ASPPM said that since the islands are not inhabited it is a “decision that is offensive to human dignity and the most basic rights on which the state’s relationship with its professional police forces is governed”.
In recent years Spain and Portugal have been embroiled in a dispute for waters around the islands.
In 2014 Spanish authorities filed an application with the United Nations to expand their continental shelf in the Atlantic between the Canary Islands and Madeira by 296,000 square kilometres.
In the proposal sent to the UN, Spain rekindled its intention to grab a share of the economic exclusive zone off Portugal’s Savage Islands.
Spain said that while it does not dispute Portugal’s sovereignty over the Savage Islands, it argues that while Portugal considers the archipelago “islands”, it sees them as mere “rocks”.
The self-sustaining status of the islands and their habitability determines whether they should be seen as islands or rocks, which will have strong consequences for the definition of the southernmost border of the Portuguese EEZ (with Spain), currently under evaluation by the United Nations’ Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.
Spanish daily newspaper El País reported that while Portugal and Spain were not in agreement with regards to the territory in question, the impasse would likely be resolved by means of a “Solomon-like division.”
The area in question, which is roughly the size of Italy, is believed to have sizeable gas reserves and could also contain oil.
The Savage Islands, or Ilhas Selvagens, are a small Portuguese archipelago in the North Atlantic, 280 kilometres south of Madeira.
The archipelago comprises two major islands and several islets of varying sizes, divided into two areas: Selvagem Grande and Selvagem Pequena.
The archipelago is administered by the Portuguese municipality of Funchal, belongs to the Madeiran civil parish of Sé, and is the southernmost point of Portugal.
In 1971 it was designated a natural reserve, recognising its role as a very important nesting point for several species of birds. And in May 2016, a scientific report on the ‘Selvagens Islands’ in an expedition by National Geographic as part of the Pristine Seas series, impressed Chief-Scientist Alan Friedlander, head of the expedition, for its rich wild marine environment.