©Luís Quinta
A supporter of Sporting Clube de Portugal, Dionísio Machado celebrates his admiration for the club with a fishing boat "dressed up". In the Calhau da Cova bay, the “little lion” is about to finish the trap collection phase.
©Vertente Natural
The most adventurous walk the slopes and cliffs that take us to the waters of the Marine Park showing us what the most special places hide, making this a very challenging activity.
©Dolphin Bay
Common dolphin, dwarf whale, and bottlenose dolphin, often individuals from the neighboring Sado Estuary community, are the main species of cetaceans that visit the Marine Park. With the Serra da Arrábida as a background landscape, not even the cold hides the desire to be able to enjoy a memorable experience.
©Dolphin Bay
The Marine Park is always surprising when it comes to biodiversity. These waters are also frequented by several species of cetaceans that visit us and allow us to have a unique trip within this vibrant blue sea.
© Câmara Municipal de Setúbal
Soaring over the blue sea and green cliffs of Arrábida is a breathtaking experience. The bold and the brave have the privilege to see the mountains and the sea from a different perspective. The take-offs are from the top of Portinho beach.
©Luís Quinta
Sheltered from the prevailing winds and undulations of the northwest, the coast from Arrábida to Cabo Espichel allows small boats like the boat to maintain their activity there. These boats do not exceed 4.5m in length and their design has changed little since the beginning. They can take two people, but are typically operated by a fisherman for economic reasons.
©Luís Quinta
Eduardo “Xixa” Pinto is a charismatic fisherman for his dedication to the sea and to everything that surrounds him. On his vessel “Bela” and with the use of a good rig he knows the bottom of the region like few others. The detailed reading of the rig’s screen is one of the secrets to the success of your fisheries.
©Luís Quinta
One of the fish most appreciated by net fishermen is good hake. In the area of Sesimbra, good examples of this marine delicacy are still captured. This trawler, based in Setúbal, came close to Cova da Mijona to try her luck.
©Vertente Natural
Kayak trips are one of the many water activities that can be practiced at the Professor Luiz Saldanha Marine Park. The blue and crystalline waters, which characterize this sea, let us appreciate the marine life that exists in it.
©Vertente Natural
A dive in the waters of the Professor Luiz Saldanha Marine Park is a memorable and very desirable experience among divers. It is possible to find an immense variety of many of the species that make the park their habitat as algae and some seagrass, anemones and gorgonians, lobsters and octopuses, sea horses and several species of fish.
©Bolhas tours
It doesn’t take much for the blue sea that surrounds Serra da Arrábida to become irresistible to anyone. Sailing in the calm and transparent waters, protected from the wind and the maritime agitation of the north delights the most passionate.
©Luís Quinta
Although they have an outboard motor (mainly for long trips), these boats are used mostly with the support of oars. Quiet and with small movements, the fishermen sail with the aiolas through the waters of Sesimbra.
©Luís Quinta
José́ “Coelho” Manuel, 80 years old, returns from another fishing job. Bordering the imposing limestone coastline, its fiber vessel “Quatro netos” cuts the water with speed, as there are fish to unload and remove from the nets. When the small fish is abundant and the slime "clings" to the nets, there may be work to do on land for several hours.
© Câmara Municipal de Setúbal
Soaring over the blue sea and green cliffs of Arrábida is a breathtaking experience. The bold and the brave have the privilege to see the mountains and the sea from a different perspective. The take-offs are from the top of Portinho beach.
© Câmara Municipal de Setúbal
Soaring over the blue sea and green cliffs of Arrábida is a breathtaking experience. The bold and the brave have the privilege to see the mountains and the sea from a different perspective. The take-offs are from the top of Portinho beach.
©Luís Quinta
Sheltered from the prevailing winds and undulations of the northwest, the coast from Arrábida to Cabo Espichel allows small boats like the boat to maintain their activity there. These boats do not exceed 4.5m in length and their design has changed little since the beginning. They can take two people, but are typically operated by a fisherman for economic reasons.
©Rui Santos
Between the 1960s and the 1980s, the hasvest of Gelidium sesquipedale was an important commercial activity in Arrábida. The harvesting was done manually by professionals who dived with a non-autonomous diving equipment, meaning that they did not take the air with them in a tank, instead they breathed through a long hose connected to an air compressor in a supporting boat.
©Luís Quinta
To the east of Sesimbra, this vessel again launches its graves to the sea for another fishing day. Late night and early morning are always phases of the day with a lot of action.
©Luís Quinta
All the work of this longline fisherman is manual, and collecting art is an arduous and physically demanding task. When the fish are big and fight, like chamois, morays and others, you have to be resilient. Alone on your boat, you cannot get too far from the fishing port of Sesimbra.
©Luís Quinta
Joaquim “Quinel” Silva is a fisherman who has collaborated in various monitoring and investigation activities with researchers who have worked at Professor Luiz Saldanha Marine Park. In order to evaluate stocks, densities, evolution, and other parameters, it is necessary to make samples in specific places and with a specific agenda.
©Luís Quinta
A small European conger was caught in the longline launched in front of Sesimbra. This fishing day was very weak, as the sea did not allow us to go farther into more fish-filled territories.
©Rui Santos
The hasvest of the red algae Gelidium sesquipedale was an important commercial activity in Arrabida until the 90s. This marine resource was monitored by researchers from the current Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera (IPMA), then IPIMAR, which, from the 1980s, began to ensure the collection of samples and to carry out more in-depth studies using scuba diving.
©Luís Quinta
António Augusto, 52, left distant fishing (Morocco) almost 20 years ago. He goes out to sea at night and returns to land before lunch. Fishing has been a part of his life since he was very young.
© Câmara Municipal de Setúbal
Soaring over the blue sea and green cliffs of Arrábida is a breathtaking experience. The bold and the brave have the privilege to see the mountains and the sea from a different perspective. The take-offs are from the top of Portinho beach.
©Vertente Natural
From beach to beach, along the coast of Sesimbra, a canoe trip allows us to appreciate in another way the tranquility and the places that these cliffs sometimes hide. It allows us to know with new eyes the richness of this sea that takes us to a deep ocean.
©Luís Quinta
Although they have an outboard motor (mainly for long trips), these boats are used mostly with the support of oars. Quiet and with small movements, the fishermen sail with the aiolas through the waters of Sesimbra.
©Bolhas tours
Fishing. One of several recreational activities that are practiced in these waters. Lovers of this practiced, from the from the most novice to the most experienced, they also cannot resist what these waters have to offer.
© Vítor Santos
During summer time, the calm and transparent waters of the Marine Park of Serra da Arrábida warm up and invite for a stand up ride. This nautical activity is very popular in the summer days and a good contribute for the local economy.
©Luís Quinta
Professional artisanal fishing is nowadays one of the livelihoods of many restaurants and hotels in the bay of Sesimbra. With his eyes fixed on the Vila, on each move, Fernando believes that a lucky fish, a beautiful sea bass weighing several kilograms, or another fish of economic and gastronomic value will appear.
©Luís Quinta
Many vessels change their fishing gear throughout the year, they can either make a season with nets, change to the creels in the most favorable months, or other fishing techniques in specific seasons.
©Luís Quinta
Although they have an outboard motor (mainly for long trips), these boats are used mostly with the support of oars. Quiet and with small movements, the fishermen sail with the aiolas through the waters of Sesimbra.
©Luís Quinta
The vast majority of professional fishermen who work in the territory of Luiz Saldanha Marine Park, or in the surroundings, are of an advanced age. Joaquim “Quinel” Silva displays, with a big smile, some good fish caught around the port of Sesimbra.
©Luís Quinta
©Bolhas tours
Diving allows us to discover the treasures that the Marine Park hides, thus making this place the perfect setting for this practice. It is already known as one of the best diving places due to its calm and clear waters and its high biodiversity.
©Luís Quinta
54 professional fishing vessels are registered in the Luiz Saldanha Marine Park. About half of the licenses belong to aiolas.
©Rui Santos
This red alga, from which agar (a gelatinous substance used for scientific and food purposes) is produced, was an important addition to the local economy, mobilizing entire families to the Espichel area during the harvest season.
©Vertente Natural
In the bay of calm waters of Portinho da arrábida, with the Oceanographic Museum strategically located, navigating these waters is a great opportunity to observe the marine life and many sea birds of this area.
©Luís Quinta
The octopus is one of the most unloaded items in the Lota de Sesimbra. Much sought after by Portuguese gastronomy, this cephalopod can be made in many ways and is part of the menu of any local restaurant.
©Luís Quinta
Once a common art in the waters of Sesimbra, today the Palangre is only operated regularly by a fisherman, Fernando “Pexinho da sorte” Fonseca, 51 years old. The days are not easy and the future is not very bright for this activity.
©Luís Quinta
In his vessel “Cláudia”, Fernando, launches his hunt only in some areas of the Professor Luiz Saldanha Marine Park and in favorable funds.. A hunt can consist of two “devices”, one with 200 and the other with 400 hooks. The bait varies between mackerel and sailfish.
©Luís Quinta
All the work of this longline fisherman is manual, and collecting art is an arduous and physically demanding task. When the fish are big and fight, like chamois, morays and others, you have to be resilient. Alone on your boat, you cannot get too far from the fishing port of Sesimbra.
©Luís Quinta
Dionísio Machado and his son Jorge Machado are in charge of many caves of various sizes (traps for capturing octopuses and crustaceans). A spy (main cable where the caves are connected) can take 30 large traps or 40 to 50 small caves. Inside each pit there is a compartment where the bait is placed (fish: mackerel, sardines or others). At each end of the spy there is a buoy that signals the fishing gear, as well as the owner.
©Luís Quinta
Abundant in the Luiz Saldanha Marine Park, the octopus is one of the most captured species in this region. For many fishermen, this marine animal is the basis of their fisheries.
©Luís Quinta
In Sesimbra, fishing is essentially done with gillnets of a single cloth measuring 6 (60mm) or 8 (80mm). These nets are typically 300 fathoms (+/- 450m) in length and are based on the seabed. This fishing gear has at its ends a buoy and an identification flag, as well as a weight, or a grapple that attaches it to the bottom.
©Vertente Natural
The waters of the Marine Park meet the conditions desired for divers, even for diving baptisms. The underwater sand bays offer unforgettable encounters with the marine life that inhabits these waters.
©Luís Quinta
Dionísio Machado pulls a creel on board his 7-meter vessel. The larger the trap, the larger the octopuses can be.
©Luís Quinta
Depending on the months of the year, fishing may be more directed at some target prey, such as cuttlefish, octopus, squid, etc. For this fishery, the fish bowl, the “clown”, or the “shrimp” are the most used tools. At the end of a nylon line that is dozens of meters long, there are fish-shaped baits that attract predators, or cause marine animals to approach and get entangled in these fishing gear.
©Luís Quinta
In the early morning, many fishermen unload their catch at the fishing port. In this commercial warehouse, they operate from small vessels such as aiolas to large trawlers. Many seine fishing boats use these Docapesca facilities to dispose of their catch.
©Vertente Natural
After climbing the coves of the marine park and Serra da Arrábida it is time to gain courage and dive into the delicious waters that make us want to discover this coast even more. The blue sea keeps arousing the curiosity of what we can still discover a few meters deep.
