Mljet has been given the responsibility of caring for Dubrovnik-Neretva County's very first firefighting boat, which has been procured thanks to EU funds.

As Morski writes on the 2nd of March, 2019, Dubrovnik-Neretva County prefect Nikola Dobroslavić handed over the first firefighting vessel in Dubrovnik-Neretva County in Dubrovnik's port on Friday. The vessel is named Sveti Florijan, named after the patron saint of Linz.

The vessel was handed over by the prefect to the mayor of Mljet, Đivo Marketa, who immediately presented and subsequently handed it over to commander of Mljet's fire brigade, to Mario Dabelić.

Prefect Nikola Dobroslavić stressed that this is an excellent example of good use of the money made available to Croatia from European Union funds.

''The ship is largely financed by EU funds through a project conducted by Dubrovnik-Neretva County. This is the first firefighting boat in our county, and JVP Mljet (Mljet fire brigade) will be responsible for it, but of course it will be available to the whole of this southern area. Another firefighting vessel is coming to the City of Dubrovnik soon and this is a significant addition to the safety and the possibility of interventions being made at sea. This ship will be used for firefighting on boats, as well as in some other emergency situations,'' stated Dobroslavić, among other things.

Sveti Florijan is the first firefighter in Dubrovnik-Neretva County, otherwise Croatia's southernmost county, area acquired by the southern Dalmatian county as part of the scope of the European project AdriaMORE, which is otherwise one of the projects currently being implemented by the Interreg Croatia-Italy cross-border program.

The project activities of Dubrovnik-Neretva County are worth around 350,000 kuna, of which 85 percent are being co-financed with the very welcome funds of the European Regional Development Fund, and the remaining 15 percent are financed by the county's own funds.

A shipbuilding contract, worth about 950,000 kuna, was signed last September with Damor d.o.o., and, as previously mentioned, the new firefighting vessel will be taken care of by Mljet's fire brigade and by Mljet Municipality.

Dubrovnik-Neretva County organised the ceremony as part of the activities on this year's International Civil Protection Day, which was marked on March the 1st.

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Most of Croatia's biggest entrepreneurs are located on the northern Adriatic islands, and Croatia's biggest employers are still in the tourism and trade industries.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes on the 6th of February, 2019, according to the analysis of the Financial Agency (FINA), which included details on entrepreneurs operating in the Republic of Croatia, there are 4,322 of them across 51 cities and municipalities in total who work as classified entrepreneurs, and in 2017, the largest number of entrepreneurs were in the field of providing accommodation and food preparation and serving - 903 of them. This tourism sector has now achieved its highest total revenue (almost 2.7 billion kuna), which is 25.6 percent of total income of island entrepreneurs.

Following those in tourism are entrepreneurs in the field of wholesale and retail trade - 656 of them. 2.2 billion kuna or 21.3 percent of total revenues and entrepreneurs are in this field. Construction is ranked third with 472 entrepreneurs and 1.4 billion kuna in revenues, which is 13.7 percent of total income of entrepreneurs from island areas.

In the case of tourism entrepreneurs, these were the highest in terms of the number of employees, with 6,585 employees or 30.6 percent of the total number of employees in all activities. This group of entrepreneurs also earned the highest revenues, and among them, according to the criterion of total revenues, the best are the hotel and tourism companies from Mali Lošinj, Hvar and Rab, or Jadranka hotels, Sunčani Hvar, and Imperial.

When looking at the ''size'' of these entrepreneurs, the largest number of micro entrepreneurs with 92 percent of the share in the total number of entrepreneurs are registered in the observed island areas. In addition, the same group have the largest share in profits, 42.7 percent, and employ the largest number of workers, making up a significant 33.8 percent of the total number of employed people in island towns and municipalities.

There are nine big companies based on islands in the Republic of Croatia, one in the area of ​​trade, Trgovina Krk from Malinska on Krk, one in the field of construction, GP Krk from Krk, one in the processing industry, Sardina from Brač and one in the area of ​​passenger transport, Autotrans from the island of Cres, while the remaining six are in the area of the ​​provision of accommodation and food preparation and service.

Make sure to stay up to date with Croatia's economic, business and investment climate by following our dedicated business page.

Click here for the original article by Darko Bicak for Poslovni Dnevnik

As Morski writes on the 5th of February, 2019, as the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds has stated, 39 contracts for Croatian island development will be signed on Wednesday, totaling an enormous 17,430,000.00 kuna, which is less than 450,000 kuna per individual project on average.

The Ministry argues that the goal of their Croatian island development program is to create the necessary preconditions for sustainable economic and social development by enhancing the quality of life on the islands by promoting the development of matters which are specific to Croatia's many inhabited islands.

The beneficiaries of the program are both local and regional self-government units which, within their respective administrative boundaries, include Croatia's inhabited islands and their associated periodically inhabited and uninhabited islands and islets, as well as the Pelješac peninsula.

The contracts that the ministry will conclude with local and regional self-government units in accordance with the decision for 2019 will fund 51 small capital projects in the area of ​​the islands and the Pelješac peninsula, for which the state budget provided a handsome 22.8 million kuna.

The Minister of Regional Development and EU Funds, Gabrijela Žalac, will sign contracts with the following units:

Municipality of Bol - Reconstruction of public utility building - Municipality building

Cres - Construction of the SU2 road in the area of ​​Melin - first phase

Dobrinj Municipality - Reconstruction of part of the administrative building of the Dobrinj Municipality - building 2

Hvar - Paving over the rock of an existing concrete public area on the bank of the waterfront (riva)

Municipality of Jelsa - Construction of a bridge on a unclassified road in the centre of Vrboska

Municipality of Kali - Construction of the coastal promenade of Kali - Rt. Artina (phase IV)

Komiža - Repairing the Zanchi house

Kukljica Municipality - Arranging and decorating a public building for the expansion of a kindergarten in Kukljica

Mali Lošinj - Reconstruction of the area near Studenac

Municipality of Murter-Kornati - Construction of a kindergarten and a nursery school in Murter

Municipality of Nerežišća - Completion of works on the construction of communal infrastructure of the Balun-Vrpovje business zone in Nerežišća

City of Novalja - Repairing the Samorašnji put (street) in Novalja

Okrug District - Construction of a kindergarten building in Okrug Gornji

Omišalj Municipality - Construction of a precipitation drainage system in the Rosulje settlement in Njivice

Pag - Repairing and redoing of pedestrian-cycling paths

Pakoštane Municipality - Concrete roads on Vrgadi island - III. phase

Pašman Municipality - Repairing of the breakwater in the Mrljane settlement

Municipality of Postira -  Redoing of the local park in Postira - II. phase

Municipality of Povljana - Carry out a project for the reduction of losses on the water supply system of the Povljana Municipality

Municipality of Preko - Reconstruction of the Lastavica kindergarten in Preko

Primorje-Gorski Kotar County - Medical rehabilitation park in Veli Lošinj

Pučišća Municipality - Doing up of the square in Gornji Humac - III. phase

Rab - A water supply and drainage system within the Mišnjak business zone

Municipality of Sali - Construction of the Orbulica Children's Hospital - Sali

Municipality of Selca - Construction of a playground in Selca

Split-Dalmatia County - The continuation of works on the upgrading of the Pučišć sculpting school

Stari Grad - Arranging the roof space of the city library and the reading rooms of Stari Grad

Municipality of Sućuraj - Unclassified road in the area of ​​Sućuraj Municipality

Supetar town - The transformation of the ground floor of the building in the street ''P. Jakšić 17'' in Supetar for the needs of DV "Mrvica"

Municipality of Sutivan - Asphalting of the street ''Put svetog Roka''

City of Šibenik - Continued repairing of the network of unclassified roads on the island of Žirje

City of Šibenik - Construction of an open-air sports park on the island of Zlarin

Municipality of Šolta - Construction of a coastal promenade with public lighting in Stomorska

Municipality of Tisno - Redoing of the park in front of the school in Betina - a sports court

City of Trogir - Modernisation of public lighting on Drvenik Mali, Drvenik Veli and Čiovo

City of Vis - Reconstruction of buildings in the Vis business zone, including energy renewal

City of Vodice - Doing up of the children's playground in Prvić Luka

Municipality of Vrbnik - Doing up of the sv. Ivan square

City of Zadar - Designing of cycling routes with all of the necessary infrastructure on Molat

Make sure to stay up to date with Croatian island development and much more by following our dedicated politics and lifestyle pages.

As Morski writes on the 2nd of February, 2019, the I Love Beli (Udruga Volim Beli) association was founded spontaneously back in 2011 and since then has been operating in the northern part of the beautiful island of Cres, Tramuntana. For years, the association's active work, creative ideas and various projects have been committed to revitalising that part of the island where the growing population exceeds the average of other rural areas.

In many conversations with Cres-based entrepreneurs, as well as visitors and other locals, a great need for the area to maintain its existing natural resources, to expand the supply, and to ensure the safety of recreants and hikers was felt.

This is exactly how the ideas for an association between PD Kamnenjak, Tomislav Bandera Anić, and the author of "Tramuntana Hike&Bike", was born. The idea represents a network of hiking and cycling trails on Tramuntana, as was reported by Pokret otoka (Island movement).

Tramuntana is one of the few examples in Kvarner and beyond, where such projects are carried out in accordance with the practices of the Croatian Mountaineering Association, which also approved this project and included the hiking trails in the register of hiking trails. The Kamenjak mountaineering club is responsible for the supervision and the execution of all the work on the footpaths and hiking trails on the island of Cres, to which the Croatian Mountaineering Association assigned this function.

There has been a very good response from volunteers from both the island and the mainland, without which this action would not be possible to undertake. People recognise the important of the project, respond with enthusiasm and are happy to do what they can to help it along.

Many entrepreneurs have been providing financial support through donations for both this project and numerous other activities the Volim Beli association is carrying out.

The project of marking out the hiking trails and footpaths has the full support of the Cres Tourist Board and has received donations from many local business owners, entrepreneurs and companies, and further cooperation with many other island business owners is expected.

The "Mystical Trails of Tramuntana" project is partly a continuation of the "Tramuntana Hike&Bike" project, which will work to offer nature lovers, hikers and other lovers of the great outdoors increased safety and far more opportunities to enjoy everything the stunning island of Cres has to offer.

Make sure to stay up to date by following our dedicated lifestyle page for much more.

Click here for the original article by Pokret otoka

As eZadar writes on the 27th of January, 2019, at the ITF Slovakiatour 2019, the largest Slovak holiday and leisure fair which is currently marking 25 years of existence, the Vir Tourism tourist agency set up a stand with gifts for visitors to the fair, and held a presentation of the Croatian island in which the hall was filled to maximum capacity.

''We did a good job presenting the island and its tourist offer, and after the presentation there was quite a lot of interest in Vir. Of course, we did business with tour operators, agencies and tourism journalists who were fascinated by the number of Slovaks going on holiday to the island,'' says Srđan Liverić from the aforementioned Vir Tourism agency.

Liverić and the head of the agency, Mate Čulina, carried out most of the work directly with the fair's stand which attracted the attention of not only Slovak travellers and tourists, but also the director of the Croatian Tourist Board for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Dubravko Miholić, who joined the Vir locals a week earlier at a similar fair in in Brno, Czech Republic.

The Slovak part of Vir's tourism promotion was held from January the 24th to the 27th, with a presentation in Bratislava, the participation of numerous representatives of the Slovakian media, investors and business partners of Vir's destination companies. As a travel and leisure fair, ITF Slovakiatour is one of the leading trade fairs in Slovakia for the tourism and hospitality sector.

Slovakiatour is an excellent opportunity to present tourism products and services, and all visitors can get information from tour operators, travel agencies, hoteliers and airlines so that they can organise their own holiday plans. Exhibitors like Vir Tourism used the fair to interact with potential buyers of services and other representatives of the tourism industry.

''This jubilee 25th ITF Slovakiatour was the most visited so far, and as the only Croatian promotion booth, all the attention of the Slovaks interested in spending their summer holidays in Croatia was directed towards us,'' stated Liverić, reporting on a good job well done in Bratislava.

This year's ITF Slovakiatour brought together 350 exhibitors from many countries from across the world, from Croatia, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, China and the Dominican Republic to Iran, Kenya, Cuba, Austria, Italy, Morocco and many others.

The numbers speak volumes about the significance of the Slovak tourist market for Vir island. Slovaks made up 12,833 tourist arrivals and 108,612 overnight stays, representing a growth of 19.5 percent (10.742 in 2017) in arrivals and 18 percent in nights (92.049).

Along with Slovenes, Hungarians and Germans, only the Slovaks made up more than 100,000 overnight stays and 10,000 arrivals last year, with continuous tourist growth from that market for Vir.

Follow our dedicated travel page for more.

Click here for the original article by Kazimir Skrbic for eZadar

Croatian islanders might enjoy what many of us would assume to be a life of paradise on one of the many stunning islands dotted along the coastline, our naive view tends to hide a lot of the issues faced on a daily basis by island inhabitants. While numerous initiatives have sprouted over the last few years to try to equalise the standards on Croatia's islands to that of the mainland, things are, of course, slow. Despite that, the Croatian Government has put forward an island development plan for this year.

As Morski writes on the 27th of January, 2019, the Ministry of Regional Development and European Union Funds is continuing to invest heavily into Croatia's many islands through the island development program by encouraging local and regional self-government units to invest in the development of their own, respective island infrastructure and economy, the competent department of the aforementioned ministry stated.

The overall objective of 2019's island development program is the creating of preconditions for sustainable economic and social development by enhancing the general quality of life of the inhabitants of the islands through encouraging the development of certain things specific to islands and island life.

The program's users will be numerous units of local and regional self-government which, in their administrative boundaries, include Croatia's inhabited islands and their associated periodically inhabited and uninhabited islands and islets, as well as the Pelješac peninsula.

The coverage of the program refers to the inhabited islands of the Republic of Croatia which are located within the six units of regional self-government, ie, the six coastal counties which have islands under their jurisdiction (Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Lika-Senj County, Zadar County, Šibenik-Knin County, Split-Dalmatia County and Dubrovnik-Neretva County).

To briefly recall, in 2018, the Croatian Government invested a massive 19,000,000.00 kuna in the same program on a total of forty different projects. More projects for the islands and their development are set to come throughout the course of this year.

Make sure to stay up to date with our dedicated politics page for more on the Croatian Government, and on both domestic and European politics.

As Morski writes on the 27th of January, 2019, over the last five years, the island of Vir has been experiencing regular works on large communal infrastructure projects. This intensive work on Vir began back in 2013, and the completion of this process, ie the construction of a water and sewage network in all of the island's settlements, as well as the complete asphalting of the streets and setting up public lighting, is expected by the year 2025.

Then, according to Vir's mayor Kristijan Kapović, everything Vir has had going on in its ''makeover'' procedure will finally be complete, meaning that by 2025, the entire island of Vir will be a completely ''done up'' island. This means that all 10,000 buildings and more than 800 streets will be fully equipped in an infrastructure sense, all facilities will have access to water and the sewage system, along with newly asphalted roads, public lighting and renovated beaches. Owing to the velocity of works that need to be undertaken until 2025, the mayor has asked Vir's residents for their support and their patience.

Here's how that all looks in practice: Every day, hundreds of employees from the island's local utility companies Vir Maintenance and Vir Waterways, as the chosen contractor of works on the project for the construction of the water and sewage network, are working on the maintenance and installation of new public lighting systems and construction of connections to the water supply and the sewerage network island of Vir.

Parallel with the intensive implementation of the island's asphalting project, in 2013 and 2017, more than 75 kilometres of roads with about 200,000 m² of asphalt were completed, while the existing roads on the island are all maintained on a daily basis, their length can be measured in several hundreds of kilometres. Along with 200 brand new light fixtures, a huge amount of public lighting have been set up in all of the island's small villages, while around 500 new ones are in preparation for being set up over the next two years. More than 200 million kuna has been invested in all of these projects in total so far.

The implementation of the enormous project for the construction of Vir's water supply system and sewage network has been carried out in its first and second phases with the beginning of the third phase on its way. The Prezid settlement will soon become the new construction site for the construction of both water supply and drainage facilities for about 1,300 buildings.

''The entire island of Vir with all of its settlements, or about 7,000 buildings that are not yet covered by the grid, should receive water and sewage systems by the end of 2023, or in the first half of 2024. Once the large infrastructure pipes are placed in the ground, public lighting and asphalt will be placed in all the streets without such communal infrastructure. This will be accomplished by 2025,'' concluded Kapović.

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Click here for the original article by Kazimir Skrbic on eZadar

The nautical blog Sailing Europe published a heartwarming piece about the often overlooked Croatian island of Krapanj near Šibenik. While the original article is of some age now, it's unusual to see Krapanj mentioned in detail by anyone outside of Croatia, as media coverage about the lowest-lying Croatian island, famous for its long tradition of sponge diving, is unfortunately not all that frequent.

As Morski writes on the 26th of January, 2019, the island of Krapanj is the smallest and lowest-lying inhabited island in the whole of the Adriatic sea. Located just south of the historic Dalmatian city of Šibenik, it rises only 1.5 metres above sea level, making it the "lowest" Croatian island of all.

About 200 inhabitants live permanently on an area of ​​less than 0.5 km². Not so long ago, there were about 1,500 people living on Krapanj, which once made it the most heavily inhabited island in the Adriatic. The island fosters a long tradition of dealing with sponge, a way of life which has been known on Krapanj for centuries now.

The sponge tradition on Krapanj is over 300 years old, and in 1893 it became a real job, because then the first set of heavy diving equipment arrived at the island, and an official diver's cooperative was established. The secrets of sponge diving on the island were originally brought there by a Franciscan, who arrived there from the Greek island of Crete.

He taught local divers from Krapanj how to handle the raw sponges, which is this unassuming Greek could easily be considered a reformer of the local economy on the island. You can find out more about the history of the island in the monastery of Sv. Križ, surrounded by a thick pine forest, in the very centre of the island.

Krapanj is connected to the mainland by a boat which operates daily, while a taxi service is available on request.

The author of the text warns nautical drivers to take care of the varying depths of the sea, especially when they approach Krapanj through the very small group of islands located just in front of it.

Detailing further, the author of the text on Sailing Europe states that even though Krapanj is not the most popular Croatian sailing destination, one should be sure to visit it.

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Click here for the original article by Sailing Europe

Like elsewhere around the globe, and especially over the last decade or so, running events have been springing up all over Croatia like mushrooms after the rain, in all sizes and shapes. Among the many, there is a truly outstanding one - the country’s biggest trekking and trail race - Škraping. Christened so by its real founder Josip Tomic, a genuine athletic enthusiast thirteen years ago.

''Škrapa'' is a rock or a cliff by the sea. In other words, you don't go just running, but you go ''cliffing and rocking'', you run, you jump over the cliffs, climb up and down, all along the picturesque coastline of Pasman island.

The first Škraping was held back in 2006, with weak but enthusiastic local organisers, it gathered 182 enlisted participants, all so enthused and enchanted with the very particular track, spread the word around so that the event kept growing until it reached 1350 runners. In the words of the organisers, the Municipality and the Prvenj Comunal Entity of the picturesque little place of Tkon, that is the upper limit for the number of possible participants.

Why?

''Of course we'd like to have tens of thousands of people, but we are aware of our capacities. We don't have the necessary logistics for more than 1,300 people, approximately, that's about the number about which we're sure we can provide accommodation for, as well as catering and other services, transportation, and so on. We've had a lot of local infrastructure sorted out over the last several years, we've improved the old side and forest roads and made some ten kilometres of new paths and proper roads across the territory of our municipality, for at least two good causes - protection against wood fire and for Škraping!,'' says Goran Mušćet, the Mayor of the picturesque Tkon.

''It mobilises all our forces, but the purposes of Škraping are many. Taking place in early March each year, like an early harbinger, it announces the spring and the tourist season, it injects so much life into our otherwise very quiet little place, it helps the local economy, our young ones are interested and take part either by participating or volunteering in the organisation, friendships are coined, and so on. Last year we had people from eleven countries,''

Any age or limits of any other sort?

''Not really, as long as the person is healthy, one can be 100 years old and run! To support this, I always quote with special affection how some years back we organised the ''Little Škraping’ for pre-school kids. With our assistance, our local kindergarten invited other kindergartens from the island and the mainland. It's so touching to watch those little faces give their genuine effort to arrive first and win. So they also learn about the good that running can bring, about competition, about maintaining a healthy lifestyle, they mingle, share a fruit juice and a cake and make friends. Who could ask for more?'' concludes Mušćet.

There are other things happening during ''Škraping time'', too, music, fun, and the traditional and, again, another special event - the Fair of Island Products, a trademark under which some forty small private producers offer their very particular local products, from cosmetics to food.

But don't get discouraged just because you're past pre-school age! There are four different tracks, from short to long, you can choose and apply for any that you think suits your post-Christmas form. More details can be found here, and if you want to register, click here.

Hurry up, as registration closes on March the 1st, and many of those who have participated before have already registered again! Have fun, start getting back in shape in preparation and join the 1000+ people that, just like you, want to feel healthy in the cleanest environment imaginable.

Stay up to date with this and much more by following our dedicated lifestyle page.

An environmental tragedy for the island of Pag as one of the most beautiful, not to mention geologically and paleontologically interesting part of the island landscape, Ledenik, has sadly become part of an unregulated and unwanted landfill for discarded construction material and all kinds of waste. Ledenik is otherwise visited by thousands of tourists during the summer months and is a very popular area, but also a highly significant fossil site.

As Morski writes on the 21st of January, 2019, in addition to this area being of importance when it comes to prehistory, some of the oldest still standing sructures, more specifically examples of drywall construction on the island of Pag are located in Ledenik. Several films have also been filmed there. Unfortunately, this stunning area has fallen victim to people dumping all sorts of waste, as Radio Pag has reported.

Ledenik is extremely interesting in a geological sense. Namely, the island of Pag actually originated from billions of shells and skeletons of various dead and fossilised marine animals and is mostly composed of limestone, and it is precisely at Ledenik where a vast fossil site can be seen.

Geologists say that the basic geological structure of the island of Pag originated about 200 million years ago, while the actual formation of the island of Pag is considered by geologists to have occurred around 30 million years ago, when they believe what is now Ledenik was then initially formed. At that time, the island of Pag was connected with Velebit and didn't have the shape of an island as it has today.

The present shape of the island of Pag was created at the end of Pleistocene era, the last ice age, about 12,000 years ago, which isn't that long ago in the grand scheme of things. Then, transgression occurred and the sea level rose by about a hundred meters. The wetland area (part of the then Pag lake) saw the gap between the now island of Pag and Velebit filled by the sea and the Velebit channel was thus created. This marked the final act in the island's birth as we know and love it today.

The utterly bizarre, almost Mars-like landscape of the island of Pag has been regularly contributed by bura winds which have been shaping sedimentary rocks for centuries. This is particularly noticeable on Ledenik, which is, by far, entirely unique.

All in all, Ledenik should be the City of Pag's pride, but it seems that not everyone cares enough about the local environment to make sure it stays as precious and as unique as it is.

Make sure to stay up to date with our dedicated lifestyle page for more. If it's just Croatia's attitude to the environment and ecology you're interested in, give Total Eco Croatia a follow.

Click here for the original article by Radio Pag