THE SURFERS who launched the ‘S.O.S. Carcavelos – Save Our Surf’ campaign, in a bid to stop Cascais Câmara from building piers at Carcavelos beach, are celebrating this week, following the câmara’s decision to abandon the project.
Carcavelos beach in Cascais is known by surfing fans worldwide for its excellent waves – it’s the biggest beach in Greater Lisbon and one of the most popular for surfers from all over Portugal and beyond. However, if the construction of the two piers had gone ahead as part of the câmara’s project to improve the Estoril coastline, the surf, according to a technical study presented by the S.O.S Carcavelos group, would have been irrevocably altered, thereby damaging the sport.
The campaigners attended several meetings at From page 1
Cascais Câmara, when they discussed the proposed construction of the piers and the sand refurbishment project with the câmara’s engineers and several representatives from Hidroprojecto, the company set to carry out the work. They also took the opportunity to present their own study into the negative effects of going ahead with the project.
On February 13, a major protest was held at Carcavelos beach, which brought together more than 5,000 surfing fans from all over the country, to form a 1km long “human wave” (‘onda humana’), a line of people joining hands on the beach. In return for their support of the event, those attending were offered free surfing lessons, surfing films and stickers. This action undoubtedly formed the climax to the campaign, which had seen thousands of leaflets distributed, special T-shirts and car stickers produced and the launch of a website, among other initiatives. It was at this public protest that a surprising announcement was made by António Capucho, Cascais Câmara President, who confirmed that the two piers would not be constructed as was previously planned. With regard to the sand refurbishment programme that is also part of the coastline improvement programme, this will still go ahead but will be closely monitored by the câmara with support from technical experts from the S.O.S. Carcavelos group.
