The announcement was made at the Vasco da Gama Aquarium, in Dafundo, municipality of Oeiras, district of Lisbon, by the president of the European Blue Flag Association, José Archer, who said that during the next bathing season, there are 398 beaches, distributed across 103 municipalities.

A beach awarded a Blue Flag complies with several criteria, including water quality and space (planning), security and services, surveillance, and people's awareness (environmental education).

The person in charge considered it “good news” that the number of beaches, marinas, and boats with Blue Flag “has grown again”.

River beaches

José Archer also highlighted the “continuous growth of inland beaches”, admitting that they are “naturally much more sensitive, more difficult to attain and maintain”.

“Portugal stands out enormously in terms of its inland beaches. We are, worldwide, the second country with the most inland [river] beaches, with 49, more than double that of Spain and Italy, a number that deserves to be highlighted”, he added.

In terms of coastal beaches, the official highlighted that the number of beaches on the Portuguese coast with a Blue Flag “is fully consolidated”, stressing that it is “growing as we are able to designate new beaches”.

Regarding the loss of the Blue Flag, José Archer said that all situations, in relation to last year, took into account the quality of the water, and in the case of Zambujeira do Mar it is related to the impact of the summer festival taking place in a locality in southwest Alentejo, in the municipality of Odemira, district of Beja.

On the “more sensitive” river beaches, he added, all it takes is “an upstream accident or spill and it ends up having an impact on water quality”.

“These are specific situations, which is a shame because they end up spending a year without being able to raise the Blue Flag. It is also a warning about people's behaviour that sometimes a reckless attitude leads to the efforts of a community going down the drain”, he said.

At an international level, Portugal occupies second place in terms of ecotourism vessels awarded, with 23, with 19 marinas also being distinguished. In these two categories there were two more distinctions than last year.

The official ceremony to raise the first Blue Flag on a coastal beach will take place on Fontinha Beach, in Porto Santo, Madeira, on June 1st.

The distinguished coastal and river beaches are distributed across the North (89, two more than last year), Center (48, one more), Tagus (75, one less), Alentejo (38, one less), Algarve (86, plus one), Azores (45, plus one) and Madeira (17, plus one).

The Blue Flag Program is an education program for sustainable development, promoted in Portugal by the Blue Flag Association of Europe, the Portuguese section of the Foundation for Environmental Education.