Portugal - FozWaSe
Figueira da Foz - Portugal
Photos: FozWaSe
Site description
The Mondego Estuary is 26 km long from its mouth at Figueira da Foz to Montemor-o-Velho. Along the estuary there are several villages with a strong material, immaterial, and nature-based touristic potential related to agricultural activities as well as the urban area of Figueira da Foz- a town that is widely known for its famous beaches, water sports and gastronomic tourism. Throughout history, the gradual accumulation of sediments in the estuary hindered boat navigation to seaports located inland and led to the relocation of the port activity to the estuary. The Mondego embayment was unstable and shallow, migrating south due to coastal drift with a predominantly NW swell. Figueira da Foz coastal zone and the Mondego Estuary experienced morphological changes along the time. It is composed of the Mondego and Pranto subsystems separated by the Morraceira Island. These subsystems have contrasting sedimentary, hydrodynamic, physical and chemical characteristics. Morraceira Island encompasses solar salt pans, fish farms and extensive areas of salt marshes, mud flats, reed beds, and seagrass meadows. The Mondego River comprises an alluvial plain with a strong agricultural potential, for rice, maize, horticulture, and/or orchards production, although the population’s safety and livelihoods have been frequently at risk due to the Montego's irregular hydrological regime and consequent flooding. The Port of Figueira da Foz has its main structures on the northern branch. It consists of a multipurpose and liquid bulk terminal, an industrial area and a marina. The port is geared towards short sea shipping from the Portuguese Atlantic coast, as well as it is considered an access point for international and national commercial traffic.
Ecosystem
It is a vibrant territory composed of salt marshes which mainly present plant species such as: Spartina maritima, Bolboschanus maritimus and Juncos. The traditional solar salt pans are of great ecological importance and are one of the main refuges, feeding and breeding areas for migratory birds such as: kingfishers, cormorants, flamingos, Kentish plover, grey heron and black-winged stilt among others. Additionally, it is classified as a Site of International Interest under the RAMSAR Convention on Wetlands.
Facts & Figures
37
working solar saltpans
19
Aquaculture sites
1
Wastewater Treatment Plant
1
Port, comprising a recreational port, Morraceira's industrial and logistics area, marina, commercial facilities, freight, liquid and dry bulk terminals and a fishing harbor
Location
Portugal, Figueira da Foz (Central Portugal Region), Latitude: 40.1508, Longitude: -8.85121
Size
The Mondego estuary is approximately 26 km long and has an area of 3.5 km2. FozWaSe plans to restore along the last 6 km of the north branch, between the site locally known as “Cinco Irmãos” and the mouth of the river. This sector of the north branch has a cross-section at its wider length of 547 m and at its narrower of approximately 154 m.
This main navigation channel is extremely important economically, environmentally and in terms of the hydrodynamic behavior at the port’s mouth and the neighboring shoreline.
Existing projects
Figueira da Foz Municipality has recently participated in two projects with strong restoration actions. The LIFE ADAPTABLUES project- which implemented nature-based solutions to increase the estuary climate resilience against sea level rise and extreme weather events.
The second is an EEA project “Ciência Viva Salt Farm - Cooperation, safeguarding and innovation” which focuses on the conservation, rehabilitation and revitalization of coastal cultural heritage associated with the Municipal ‘Corredor da Cobra' salt pan, located in a transitional area between land and sea in the Mondego Estuary. Furthermore, Figueira da Foz municipality in 2022 joined the European Union's “Adaptation to Climate Change” Mission, in 2023 joined the “Network of Portuguese Cities aiming for Carbon Neutrality in 2030”, in line with the objectives of the European “Climate Neutral and Smart Cities” Mission, and finally, is a member of the “adapt. local - Network of Municipalities for Adaptation to Climate Change" association created in 2023, where restorative actions will be considered
DALIA Implementation Plan
- Knowledge transfer - This activity will be led by the DPS7- Danube Delta team, Romania. During the development of knowledge transfer- will be carried out several series of capacitation actions for the FozWaSe project’s team, the knowledge transfer will be performed to build capacity among the replication site beneficiaries
- Ecosystem Status Assessment - As it is recommended to conduct an initial ecosystem assessment, the 2nd activity of FozWaSe includes the initial assessment of the Mondego Estuary, as well as its monitoring throughout the project’s life. It will be essential to understand how the transport of pollutants takes place
- Stakeholder Analysis (SA) - A SA is a key part of identifying interested parts in the project and how they may be affected by and affect plans, projections and decisions surrounding the project. Maintaining a strong relationship with stakeholders can increase the successful development and implementation of the project. These analyses assess the motivations and influence of the project’s stakeholders
- Pilot execution - This activity aims to identify the best place for the implementation of the automated station on the mouth of the river and following implementation
- Communication and capacitation plans - It aims to develop clear and strong communication with the project’s stakeholders and public in general to raise awareness and capacitation concerning the value of the Mondego Estuary and its ecosystem services, as well as good practices to protect and restore it
Involvement of the Community
During the implementation, the FozWaSe project aims to involve several stakeholders such as communities of practice (salt farmers and small-scale fisherpersons), public in general (inhabitants and tourists), governmental agencies (Environmental Protection Agency, Maritime Authority, Civil Protection Services), NGOs (environmental, civil), industry( WWTP, aquaculture, commercial port, fishing port) through participatory processes such as focus groups and structured interviews will be possible to assess the stakeholders' concerns and to plan capacitation actions to answer those concerns. Additionally, these actions will increase their capacitation and knowledge to safeguard the ecological health of the estuary.
Expected Impact
The long-term goal of the FozWaSe project is to have a continuous monitoring station to collect data to construct a database database, which will combine data collected during the project’s life and post-life with historical data of water and sediments quality parameters, and its hydrodynamics. This database will allow for the development and definition of an estuary management plan in cooperation with entities which have managing obligations of this estuary. Furthermore, FozWaSe team aims to foster a strong relationship with the non-physical DPS7 team, so once the FozWaSe database has enough input data, then (in the future) it can be used to feed predictive models to perform a holistic water and sediments quality characterization requiring fewer resources.
Funded by the European Union
