Observatory for the Óbidos Lagoon with daily monitoring and shared management

The Assembly of the Republic recommended that the Government create an observatory for the Óbidos Lagoon, with daily monitoring of the lagoon’s status and management ensured jointly by the municipalities of Caldas da Rainha and Óbidos. The Resolution of the Assembly of the Republic no. 281/2026, approved on September 18, 2026, was published in the Diário da República on October 28, 2026, 1st series, no. 209.

The diploma is a recommendation approved under paragraph 5 of Article 166 of the Constitution, signed by the President of the Assembly of the Republic, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, and does not bind the executive to a specific deadline. The text defines the architecture, competencies, and funding model of a structure for the tracking, monitoring, coordination, and dissemination of information regarding the ecological, hydrodynamic, sanitary, economic, and tourist status of the lagoon system.

Daily monitoring and early warning

The resolution determines that the observatory ensure daily monitoring, with systematic data collection on water quality, sediments, hydrodynamics, silting, inlet opening, habitats, fauna, and flora. Added to this base is data on bivalves, harmful phytoplankton, biotoxins, contaminating metals, and microbiology, in coordination with the competent entities.

The text also provides for the progressive installation of sensing systems, measurement stations, digital platforms, and early warning instruments, as well as regular situation bulletins accessible to the population, economic agents, and users. The structure must have its headquarters or operational hub near the lagoon, dedicated to information collection and processing, technical assistance, and support for field actions.

Shared management and dredging hour bank

Management is primarily the responsibility of the municipalities of Caldas da Rainha and Óbidos, with the direct involvement of the covered parish councils and unions:

• Foz do Arelho
• Nadadouro
• Vau
• Union of Parishes of Santa Maria, São Pedro, and Sobral da Lagoa

Should they agree to assume these responsibilities, the two municipalities must equitably guarantee the human resources necessary for the observatory’s operation. They also commit to contracting an annual bank of dredging service hours, placed at the service of the Portuguese Environment Agency, I. P. (APA, I. P.), for annual maintenance interventions of the lagoon at a value that should be based on a minimum number of cubic meters of sand — an amount yet to be established.

Entities with permanent participation

The resolution requires the permanent participation in the observatory or its respective monitoring council of a wide range of entities:

• APA, I. P.
• Coordination and Regional Development Commission of Lisbon and Tagus Valley, I. P. (CCDR-LVT, I. P.)
• Portuguese Institute for the Sea and Atmosphere, I. P. (IPMA, I. P.)
• Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests, I. P. (ICNF, I. P.)
• Águas do Tejo Atlântico, S. A.
• Port Captaincy of Peniche/National Maritime Authority
• Entities with competence in nature conservation, public health, tourism, and aquaculture resources
• Representative associations of fishermen, shellfish gatherers, and other lagoon users

Responsibilities are divided: executive and political coordination to the municipalities, proximity liaison and reporting of occurrences to the parish councils, technical support in water resources to APA, I. P., integration of data on bivalve mollusks and phytoplankton to IPMA, I. P., biodiversity framework to ICNF, I. P., and coordination in water supply and sanitation to Águas do Tejo Atlântico, S. A..

Quarterly reports, public platform, and funding

Regular operation includes periodic coordination meetings, quarterly reports, an annual report on the state of the lagoon, and a digital public platform with data, indicators, warnings, and monitoring history. The text also provides for response procedures for episodes of water quality degradation, health risks, mouth obstruction, or fauna mortality.

Strategic objectives include monitoring morphological and hydrodynamic evolution, safeguarding the ecological and economic functions of the lagoon system, and supporting the sustainability of fishing and bivalve gathering. Funding should be mobilized from the State Budget, operational programs and European funds, the Environmental Fund, program-contracts and inter-administrative protocols, and sensorization and ecological restoration projects.

For fishermen, shellfish gatherers, and tourism operators, the recommendation establishes in an official document the requirement for daily data on water and bivalves and a coordinated response to crises, but leaves the effective implementation of the observatory dependent on the acceptance of the city councils and future budget allocations.

Source: Diário da República, 1st series, no. 209, of October 28, 2026, Assembly of the Republic, p. 1 (official reference: Resolution of the Assembly of the Republic no. 281/2026).