After almost three years of scientific expeditions involving research and studies at sea and in the intertidal zone of the three municipalities, with the support of the Oceano Azul Foundation, the process now continues with scientific and socio-economic studies, followed by another process involving the communities, the participatory process, later this year.

The announcement was made at a ceremony at the Lisbon Oceanarium, where the three municipalities reaffirmed their support for the creation of an AMPIC, and the documentary “Oceano Azul Cascais | Mafra | Sintra Scientific Expedition” was presented.

The creation of AMPIC involves the three municipalities and the Oceano Azul Foundation, which organised the expedition three years ago, and has the support of the Government, through the Ministry of Environment and Energy, which has made one million euros available for further studies.

“Almost three years after the expedition, and with the technical and administrative procedures that had held up the project now completed, the conditions are in place to resume work in the field,” according to information from the Foundation and the three municipalities.

At the ceremony, José Soares dos Santos, president of the Oceano Azul Foundation, highlighted the importance of creating marine areas at the request of communities, and warned that the longer it takes to make and implement decisions about the oceans, the bigger and more difficult the problems will be to solve.

Carlos Carreiras, Mayor of Cascais, also spoke of the “many mistakes” that have been made in the oceans to emphasise the importance of “not damaging, but safeguarding and valuing” them.

“We are modestly collaborating in a universal intention to preserve the sea,” said Basílio Horta, Mayor of Sintra, to which Pedro Carmo e Silva, Councillor of Mafra, added: “we have an obligation to leave the sea better than we found it”.

Local authorities and the Foundation say in a statement that the participatory process will allow local communities to be involved in defining the final proposal for the Marine Protected Area, and that the municipalities will have “an essential role in involving people in the co-construction” of AMPIC, “taking ocean conservation as a strategic priority, but without forgetting the customs and traditions of the communities involved”.

Pedro Teixeira, a member of the Cascais fishing community and participant in the expedition three years ago, said at the Oceanarium that it is not only forests on land that are destroyed by fires, but that marine forests have also been destroyed.

"I have been a fisherman for 40 years. The sea has always been neglected,” he said, considering that with the collaboration between the three municipalities, “very interesting work" can be done.

The government supports this, as reaffirmed by the Deputy Secretary of State for Energy, Jean Barroca, who then guaranteed that in the area of energy, with offshore wind farms, the interests of local and fishing communities will always be safeguarded.