José Pacheco, the director of the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), told Lusa News Agency: “A significant density of a species of red algae that could be dangerous to public health was detected on Sunday."
“It was decided, together with the health authority, to advise against bathing in the ocean in the area between Faro Island and Vilamoura.”
He added that the “species in question is still unidentified” but that “samples have been collected for analysis” and the results are expected in the coming days.
It was decided to close the beaches to bathers in the areas where the algae has been found to be most dense.
The APA regional official admitted that other beaches may be affected in the next few hours or days, as the red algae is moving across the Algarve in a westerly direction.
"There is already a concentration of the algae near the beach of Rocha Baixinha, in the municipality of Albufeira".
José Pacheco added that the ban will be maintained until all public health safety conditions are assured: "We do not have any timetable for the situation to be normalised."
A source from the National Maritime Authority told Lusa that the beaches began to raise the red flags on Sunday, the day the warning was issued "to advise against bathing in the sea".
So it looks like the red tide that has closed some of best beaches in the US, like Siesta Key, near where I live, has ridden the Gulf Stream and ended up in the Algarve. My deepest apologies that factory farming and the willful overuse of fertilizers in the US has impacted you. Ar least our politicians are finally beginning to realize that not doing anything about red tide and cyanobacteria overgrowth are bad politics for them, so hopefully they will now fully fund research and mitigation measures before the 2020 elections. If not, we will be voting them all out of office!
By Tina Steele from USA on 19 Jun 2019, 02:52
Beaches are not closed but the water is getting pretty red in Albufeira. This started around 10 AM with patches of red. By 5 PM it was all red.
By william from Algarve on 26 Jun 2019, 19:32