Madeira News Blog

TODAY’S PHOTO : Thanks to Elaine … garlic and chillies hanging up in Funchal Farmers Market

This is a bit of a ‘nothing special’ article about cruise ships coming to Madeira MADEIRA WALKING

Jon came up with this article on the Espada Preta, or Black Scabbard Fish, Madeira’s favourite local catch. Thanks a lot Jon!

The unusual habitat of the "Espada Preta"

The Black Scabbard is calculated to reside between 600 and 1,600 metres below sea level. Considered a veritable achievement due to the incredible range of depths that the fish swims. The theory is that the fish rise to the level of 600 metres below sea level when it is dark and then descend a couple of a hundreds metres further below when it is light. Some connection to solar rays has been surmised. But the mystery of why it is easier to catch the Black Scabbard at night remains unresolved. Especially since common reason has it that sunlight does not penetrate the depths of the ocean beyond 400 metres below sea level.
For most of the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries the Black Scabbard was considered unique to Madeira. Recent discoveries of the same fish in places as far afield as Southern Ireland, and even Japan, have dispelled that special qualification for Madeira. The fish has been caught successfully for some years off the shores of North Africa, Portugal, and even the Canary Islands. However, it seems that the only locale where the fish is caught at sustainable economic or industrial levels is the village of Câmara de Lobos itself.

That unique status of the village has lent to the creation of some equally unique and unusual crafts for the catching of the Espada fish. The colourful fishing boats used to catch the fish are all made of wood with four or several oars, which one or two persons can use to row the boat out to sea or on to shore. It also enjoys one single sail and is left to the whims of the ocean currents to change its position once the general target area for the fishing grounds are reached.

I tried to find a picture of an actual live espada swimming in it’s natural habitat Jon, but at that depth in the ocean, I wonder if one actually exists. Looking at those teeth, if I was a deep sea diver, I think I would be making a swim for it rather than taking photos, amongst the relative safety of the sharks if necessary.

Paul in Paul do Mar has suggested that we use this photo from the Diário for a caption competition :

The story yesterday was : ‘Rain affected official inaugurations’. The rain affected Jardim’s inaugurations of new roads in Câmara de Lobos and Ribeira Brava on Monday. In the first one, he had to use the PSD campaign car’s sound system. Usual refreshments were still served. Jardim looked favourably upon the rain, saying: "It is said that when there is rain there is happiness." "Thanks to God we always need plenty of water for our land, especially for these agricultural areas that have missed the rain".

With that inspiration or whatever, any ideas anyone? Please send them in.

My contribution : If that cop comes any closer he’s going to swivel on that!

A week has gone by since I became a contributor, rather than the main writer for the blog, and the surprise for me was Elaine from Garajau appearing with all these daily news updates. Some others have chipped in with bits and pieces, and I have had a flood of photographs (so yours might take a month or so to appear). Many thanks to those who have responded. I have no idea whether Elaine will continue, and I am still putting in too many hours, so the appeal for more written contributions (below) is still a necessity.

"I am certain that there are kids that only eat in school". Teachers tell of situations of infant negligence in Câmara de Lobos. Two teachers in a school contacted by the Diário say that several cases of child neglect exist in their schools. One talks of the shock of seeing "children aged six going to school alone on their first day of classes". The other said "I don’t really know well the reality at home, but in school they eat so much that if we didn’t tell them to stop they would continue always eating". She went on to say that this type of situation  is true with the majority of kids, and associates the matter with "neglect of the parents". "The parents take the kids to school at 8.30 am and return to fetch them at 6.30 pm. When they get home they are given a little dish of cereal, put into bed, and the following morning they return to school", she added. Reality, poverty, who knows, but a dreadful situation. Câmara de Lobos is infamous for its poverty levels, but I wonder what great works at great cost are promised in the C de L PSD party manifesto for the new mandate that will be decided on Sunday. For sure poverty will not be a decisive factor in the election outcome.

Manuel António reiterates support to the grape growers. The regional secretary responsible has guaranteed help to the value of 50 cêntimos per kilo of grapes. The help  promised is to clear grapes from this years production that do not pass the quality grade required by the wine producers.

Aigle Azur Makes Maiden Flight To Madeira. The French airline initiated the Paris  – Funchal route on Monday. The company that has 11 planes already has around 30 routes, mostly between French cities and the countries in North Africa, and in Portugal already has routes that fly to Lisbon, Porto and Faro.

‘Violence Returns To Blight Inauguration’. The main photo on the Diário today shows a cop restraining a member of the PND, as he tries to remove a metal barrier blocking his way. I saw it on the TV news, where the New Democratic Party leadership (all 3 of them) turned up at a president Jardim inauguration to make a protest. Who knows what had been pre-arranged, but the police suddenly had access to metal barriers when the PND arrived, and blocked the street, probably illegally. A large scuffle broke out with police, PND, and PSD supporters involved, and Rabbit was there clearly seen steaming in. Jardim seems to have mysteriously patched up his relationship with local police, having pretty much said that they are only good for issuing parking tickets, and allegedly making an official complaint on Tuesday, because they certainly acted in his interests yesterday, even though I believe he had already left when the trouble happened. It also seems that a group of PSD militants had been organised to get involved if the PND turned up, but that’s just speculation on my part, and of course Uncle Bertie would not dirty his hands with organised violence, or anything illegal for that matter. That’s what cronies are for.

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If you can, please contribute something Madeira related. A funny story or experience, a news item, or a story from a Madeira newspaper, a photo or video, a teaser, news of a bargain flight or item in a supermarket. Please help keep this blog going … without user contributions it won’t survive. 

You can email blog@madeira4u.com with any large contributions or comments and photos / videos, or if you can contribute regularly, I can give you a special account that allows you to create your own blog postings.
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Please use the comments here for general chit-chat, or feel free to ask any questions … someone usually has an answer.

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(1st September). Today’s main news headline  : ‘Espada Runs Short – Fall of 28% in the catch of the sword-fish (Black Scabbard) in the first 6 months of this year affects earnings and threatens the typical dish of Madeiran gastronomy’. The lack of catch of espada is leaving hotels and restaurants feeling difficulties in serving one of the most typical meals of Madeira, and fishermen have lost a million Euros in six months. The year will not be easy for some Madeiran fishermen, with such a fall in revenue compared to 2008, amounting to a 10.9% reduction in the sales in fish markets. However, the amount of catch by weight has dropped just 1.3% (that is for all types of fish). It seems that there are fishermen who fish just for espada fish, and their revenue losses were €896,000 in six months, the only group of fishermen who saw a decline in revenue. The price of espada, at the fish markets, has risen from €2.30 per kilo to €2.50 a kilo over the period in comparison. An increase of 8%. The revenue earned by fishermen in 2008 amounted to €16.3 million. There is a chart HERE that summarises the catch for the different types of fish for the first six months of 2009. Tuna fish and mackerel are up, but everything else is down. I recall (I think) a couple of years ago that the EU wanted to impose fishing quotas on the espada catch, but was persuaded not to. Maybe over-fishing is the cause, who knows?

‘More Expensive Justice Concerns Judges – The judicial year reopens today. Beyond the crisis, the increase in insolvencies and bad debt cases will leave a mark’. The Summer recess is over, and the return to work will be dominated by warrants of execution and unpaid loans. This year so far has already seen more cases than in the whole of 2008, and there is some doubt whether there are sufficient legal resources to deal with the workload, and there is particular concern in the case of insolvencies, that need to be processed quickly. Legal charges, which were increased in April, have caused a reduction in the number of cases dealing with unpaid loans since then. Highlights of the new legal session should see the trials of the ‘Fugitive’, the second trial of the former President of Ponta do Sol, the trial of the former vice president of Funchal Rui Marote, the massive seizure of cocaine (55 kilos) at Madeira Airport, and the seizure of ecstasy tablets (17,000) in São Vicente.

‘Madeirans Provide Music To The Italians – An exchange project of students of the Conservatório’. The 5 students from the Professional School of Arts of Madeira will be off to Italy to perform between 3rd and 10th September.

The main front page photo today shows a footballer on the ground at the Choupana pitch : ‘Breathless Nacional Allow Draw (1 – 1) – The Alvinegros blame tiredness from their trip to Russia, made worse with a lack of options in the squad’. Meanwhile last night, Benfica thrashed Vitória de Setúbal 8 – 1.

‘The Canoeists Of ‘Around Madeira’ Break Bathing Rules’. During the final day of the competition for canoeists, competitors illegally entered a zone reserved for swimmers in Ribeira Brava. Maritime authorities were involved, but played down the incident.

‘River Cleaning Goes Forward This Month – Firemen, the army, Funchal council, and neighbourhoods join forces in the clean up’. In readiness for potential Winter problems, the weekend of 18-19th September has been scheduled for the cleaning work, in and around Funchal. Even scouts will be involved in the the work that will involve more than 100 people. A prime objective is to prevent flooding and mudslides during heavy Winter rainfall, but a more general clean up in some neighbourhoods will also be done.

‘Three Theft Suspects Detained In Funchal – The young men are suspected of robberies in establishments in Porto da Cruz, and the theft of vehicles’. The three men aged between 24 and 31 have been detained as suspects for crimes against property and vehicle theft. Police say a vehicle stolen in Machico was intercepted in São Martinho (Funchal), with the 24 year old man driving, without having a driving license, and the two accomplices as passengers. On searching the car the police found indications that led to the suspicions of crimes committed in Porto da Cruz, and also drugs purchased with the crime proceeds. The 24 year old man was also caught driving a stolen car on Saturday night, and had only just been released after that.

The sale of conventional light bulbs is affected by new EU rules from today. They are to be phased out in favour of eco-bulbs (low consumption – long life), and existing stocks of some conventional types will be run down from today.

UPDATES :

(J da M) The new fire station in Calheta should be ready for use in January or February 2010, said the regional secretary responsible for the project, during a visit to the site yesterday. The project in sítio de São João, Lombo do Doutor, is costing nearly €3 million and is the last of the new fire stations to be built on Madeira, with one more then to be built on Porto Santo.

‘The Programme Was Exceptional’. From today’s Jornal da Madeira, the account of the live TV shown on SIC (channel 6) yesterday from Funchal docks, was that it was an excellent event. I just mentioned it because I liked the photo with the article.

‘Teachers Dominate Lists – Almost half of the Madeiran candidates for the national elections are civil servants’. Of the 7 parties represented in the race for the Assembly of the Republic, there are 42 candidates standing from Madeira, of which 19 are government employees, 10 being from teaching. Another 6 are lawyers / solicitors, and 3 have medical backgrounds. The average age is 43, and 60% of the candidates are male. Alberto João Jardim, head of the list for PSD-M, is the second oldest on the list at 66. The youngest candidate is a lady aged just 21, but as 3rd on the list of the New Democracy Party she won’t be leaving Madeira for São Bento, and that’s a certainty.

‘Jardim Will Inaugurate €125 Million Worth Of Works Up Until 9th October – In the next 40 days the president of the government will move throughout the archipelago doing sometimes more than one inauguration per day’. In total there are 65 new investments. Most the works are public, with just 6 in the private sector, and include new roads, schools, and sports facilities. The first today is a new 1,300 metre agricultural road in Fajã, costing €2.1 million, replacing a narrow path that until now had served the population.

TODAY’S PHOTO : Thanks to Jim … Fishmarket Are we going through a phase of scary creatures at present?

Weekend Football : Marítimo play away at Leiria on Sunday at 5 pm, and Nacional, probably pretty tired after a hard game and long journey to Russia, play at home against Olhanense on Monday evening at 7 pm. Neither game is televised.

Have a great weekend!

Don’t forget that news / articles will be posted at various times during the day – Check back regularly and keep yourself up to date.

Please use the comments here for general chit-chat, or feel free to ask any questions … someone usually has an answer.

You can email blog@madeira4u.com with any large contributions or comments and photos

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