As Morski writes on the 2nd of November, 2019, the implementation of the new Croatian Adriatic sea surveillance system has begun. The Ministry of Agriculture has also co-financed state-of-the-art fishing and territorial sea monitoring and control equipment through the EU Fisheries Fund. It is an investment of as much as 72 million kuna.
Six drones were purchased for this job, they can fly for 150 kilometres and be in the air for as long as six hours at a time.
''All the time the task is being carried out, the real-time image goes to their fishery monitoring centre in Zagreb and in coordination, which means a system of contact with inspectors,'' explains Major Božo Kriletić, deputy commander of the Centre for Unmanned Aviation Systems.
The army operates the drone over Biokovo, and inspectors from Zagreb indicate where it should look. There is a vessel located out at sea all the time, and two of them are on the Adriatic and are of Croatian production. They are also equipped for fishing inspection, reports HRT.
''Basically, we aim to have this as oversight on who commits an offense, which means that we don't carry out formal controls but that we really have some indication that a violation has been committed when it has,'' pointed out Mario Škorjanec, Head of the Fisheries Inspection Service - South.
Two more coast guard and four customs vessels will be procured with European Union (EU) money, and these, just like those procured by the Ministry of Agriculture, will be used mostly for fishing control, and now everything is ready for the competent authorities to engage in the monitoring of fishing in the Croatian Adriatic, as well as the hunting of poachers.
Follow our dedicated lifestyle page for much more on illegal fishing in the Croatian Adriatic and what the authorities are doing to put a stop to it.
