Peniche, Portugal, April 17, 2025 (Lusa) - Peniche Town Council has not yet received any money from the Berlengas Nature Reserve tourist tax collected by the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF), despite the fact that it has been applied since April 2022, the local mayor said on Thursday. "We haven't received any money yet, but I think we will soon," said the mayor, Henrique Bertino, at the extraordinary municipal assembly session on Berlenga. When questioned by the Lusa agency, the ICNF confirmed this information and clarified that "it is waiting for the municipality of Peniche to ratify the protocol for the transfer of funds in order to carry out the necessary procedures to transfer them". According to the ICNF, the revenue from the tax on tourist visits to the island totalled around €165,000 in 2022, €207,000 in 2023, and €200,000 in 2024. Under the protocol, around 60% of the revenue will go to the Peniche Town Council to implement measures to enhance the Berlengas Nature Reserve as set out in the respective co-management plan, approved in December 2023. The plan approves projects worth €200,000 to improve conditions for visitors, especially in terms of improving routes, monitoring and studies to improve the safety conditions of the cliffs, sanitation works, waste management and water supply for public use, implementation of sustainable electricity supply alternatives and improvements to the existing infrastructure on the pier for people embarking and disembarking. The mayor's priorities are sanitation works and interventions on the pier, the cliffs of Carreiro do Mosteiro, and the beach. "I'm constantly under pressure to close the beach [due to the instability of the cliff] and we've resisted," added Henrique Bertino. The instability of the cliff was also one of the reasons the municipality in the district of Leiria reduced the camping area, which reopened in 2024 after being closed for four years. In 2022, visitors to Berlengas Island began to pay a fee of €3 per day, half price for children and young people between the ages of 6 and 18 and the over-65s. Since mid-2019, the island of Berlenga has had a daily limit of 550 visitors at the same time, established by decree, to minimise the effects of tourism on sensitive species and natural habitats, taking into account the small size of the archipelago. Henrique Bertino defended the "reduction in tourists" for safety reasons. "The number of licences for maritime tourist boats has destabilised the island, there's an excess, it's not easy to manage this situation," acknowledged the mayor, for whom the competence to grant licences “should lie with the council and not the co-management commission”. The archipelago was classified by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) as a World Biosphere Reserve in 2011. It has had nature reserve status since 1981, has been a Natura 2000 site since 1997, and was classified as a Special Protection Area for Wild Birds in 1999. FCC/ADB // ADB. Lusa