The Regional Secretary for Agriculture and Environment announced in Horta that the Government of the Azores will develop a project for a Bird Observation Network, having authorised to the signing of a contract with the Department of Oceanography and Fisheries (DOP) of the University of the Azores, through the IMAR Centre, for this purpose.

"This project aims to value our natural heritage and promote sustainable and responsible ornithological tourism in the Azores", said Luís Neto Viveiros. The government official spoke at the opening of trail in the Natural Reserve of Morro de Castelo Branco, Faial Island, and the environmental rehabilitation interventions of the surrounding area.

Luís Neto Viveiros stressed that the Government "will develop Interpretive Itineraries for all the islands, an Ornithological Tourism Guide and Code of Good Practices, which are expected to be available within a year."

"With this initiative, we are also creating the conditions for the emergence of another tourism product, allowing local companies to diversify their offer in the area of leisure tourism," said the government official.

  The Regional Secretary for Agriculture and the Environment also highlighted that the work was symbolically opened on the Day of the Village. According to him, "it introduces a new concept of 'nocturnal soundscapes' in the Azores, through the construction of a small outdoor auditorium where visitors will have the opportunity to listen to the nocturnal singing of Cory's shearwaters, which is undoubtedly one of the most characteristic sounds of the Azores."

About 70% of the world population of Cory's shearwaters nests in the Azores. The largest colony on the island of Faial is located in the area of Morro de Castelo Branco.

The project for the environmental rehabilitation of Morro de Castelo Branco had a cost of about 200 thousand Euros and involved a partnership between the Regional Secretariat for Agriculture and the Environment with various entities. It was intended to ensure pedestrian accessibility conditions for the visitation of this geological structure.

"This area was a waste a waste disposal site until 2001 that has since been removed by the Regional Government. Visits to this important place were conditioned due to the degradation of the access trails," Neto Viveiros.

After the fight against invasive plants in the area, started in 2012, the Regional Directorate for the Environment developed the landscape architecture project that was implemented this year; it includes the access for people with reduced mobility.

"Through cooperation and coordination of efforts, we can do more and we can do better," Neto Viveiros said, mentioning local authorities, in particular, because villages "are the cells of the harmonious growth we want to achieve in our Region."