ZAGREB, May 13, 2019 – The new fishing monitoring system was presented in Šibenik on Monday, with Agriculture Minister Tomislav Tolušić saying other countries hardly had the kind of surveillance equipment Croatia had.
The equipment including drones, boats, vehicles and cameras as well as a fully digitised fishing centre was also seen by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, Defence Minister Damir Krstičević, Regional Development and EU Funds Minister Gabrijela Žalac and local officials.
Croatia is on the vanguard in the Mediterranean when it comes to the protection of one's own sea resources, Tolušić said, adding that surveillance equipment worth 75 million kuna was purchased over the past two years.
He said the drones, cameras and boats covered all of the Adriatic and that a majority had been financed with EU funds. "It's everything the fishing inspectorate is doing to protect our fish resources and fishermen," he said, adding that the system would be modernised further.
The drones presented today will be used to monitor the sea 60% of the time and in firefighting the rest of the time, it was said.
"Although last year we invested over HRK 20 million in thermographic cameras all over the Adriatic, this is an additional possibility to raise our firefighting readiness," said Tolušić.
Mario Rogošić of the Fishing Authority said the goal was to protect the fishermen who fished legally and punish those who did not. There are 3,500 commercial fishermen in Croatia and 70,000 permits are sold for recreational fishing, he added.
Today and tomorrow Šibenik is hosting a fishing conference.
More fishing news can be found in the Business section.
