As Glas Istre/Andjelo Dagostin writes on the 30th of September, 2019, the tourists Istria wants to attract typically want to eat locally, authentically, they want the experience and not just the food, because they can get international food everywhere in the world.

Although the Educational Gastronomic Centre of Istria, located near Pazin, has so far been less widely known, the fact remains that their numerous cooking workshops (115 of them) have been attended by more than 1,200 students over the past four years, mainly by local chefs from Istria, as well as hospitality workers and hoteliers.

Glas Istre sat down and talked to Edmond Šuran, head of the Centre for Rural Entrepreneurship Development, who had a lot to say.

Everything starts from the point of agriculture and the task of our agency was to put a spring back in the step of Istria's agriculture workers. We used this to use gastronomy as a superior tool for the additional valorisation of local products, because from the experience we had with Istrian cattle, the biggest shift happened when the meat ended up in the hands of the chef.

At the first moment, it was mostly agritourism and taverns, and very soon after, restaurants and hotels with 4 or 5 stars, and now these are already Michelin-starred restaurants that want to have Boškarin (type of cattle) on offer, which is great.

All of this was created at AZRRI, and through gastronomy it was then placed on the market. That was a trend at the time, but today, that's almost a type of gastronomic brand, says Šuran, adding that 80 to 90 hospitality establishments currently offer Istrian beef, and restaurants in Primorje, Zagreb, Slovenia and even across the Adriatic in Italy also offer it. They want to achieve the same with the meat of the Istrian donkey, which is currently being offered in a dozen restaurants across Istria.

''At the moment, the demand for Istrian donkey meat is growing, and quite quickly, even those who raise it aren't managing to meet the needs of the market,'' continued Šuran, adding that the goal is to achieve such an impressive level of valorisation with other Istrian products, including media promotion.

At AZRRI, they listen to the needs of Istria's chefs and others, but also the mentor-lecturers who are constantly interacting with the chefs. Due to the relative limitations of the top culinary staff in the peninsula, AZRRI has not limited itself solely to Istria, so they invite excellent chefs with new ideas from all over Croatia and even from abroad. The cooking workshops are attended by established chefs with experience who are looking for inspiration, but also younger chefs with whom much work is being done to accelerate culinary techniques.

''We must not forget that in the best restaurants, the dish is presented not only by the waiter, but very often by the chef, precisely because he's familiar with the primary food, whether it's boar meat, blue fish or mozzarella, so the chef gives that dish its contents, its value, and he can tell the guest the story of the meal and he appreciates what goes into it,'' explained Šuran, adding that not all those on Istria's hospitality scene are expected to position themselves in high gastronomy, but those who do want that will have to interact with the guest.

''We're especially pleased that many young chefs and caterers are implementing the knowledge they've acquired here, using new details and culinary tricks. We see this when we go around the field,'' said Šuran, adding that after four years, it's difficult to maintain the level of innovation in the cooking workshops, but he believes that they still succeed in inviting new chefs every year. So, they are still attracting students who mostly come from Istria, then from many other parts of Croatia, but also from Italy, Slovenia and from down south in Montenegro.

''These chefs also come back to attend new workshops every year, The majority of attendees come from the private hospitality sector, but over the last two years, hoteliers from Istria have also become active, often booking the entire workshop for their employees.

I know that it may be a little harder for hotel companies to implement the knowledge they acquire here, because they have certain business templates and integrated public procurement, but it's commendable that these chefs still do come and acquire new knowledge, experience, and skills here that can then influence managers to adopt at least a bit of it. And that does happen!'' he noted.

He cited the fact that the largest amount of Istrian cattle meat was consumed in one restaurant within a hotel house in Istria, as an example of influence. However, when the head chef left that restaurant, larger quantities of meat were no longer ordered there, but they were then made available in restaurant where that chef had moved.

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Something new for Marina Veruda in beautiful Istria as a brand new concept comes from Croatia's neighbour to the north, Slovenia. Fancy staying in a floating house?

As Glas Istre/Milan Pavlovic writes on the 17th of September, 2019, meet the Slovenian company which wants to enrich Istria's tourist offer with something remarkably different to anything else on the entire Croatian coast.

''Before entering entrepreneurial waters, I was the director of a marina in Portorož for seven years, and it was in that marina that we completed our first project, that is, back in 2016, we installed the first floating houses. Today, there are a total of 41 such houses and their occupancy is 95 percent during the summer months, or about 65 percent all-year-round, as the climate allows,'' says the CEO and one of the founders of the Slovenian 3Maran company, Sebastian Selan.

The ''fleet'' of floating houses allow their visitors to holiday on the surface of the Adriatic sea with the comfort and convenience of also staying in solid facilities. This is a brand new type of tourist offer that will soon be available to the guests of Marina Veruda in the City of Pula, Istria.

The project is from the Slovenian company 3maran, which, after Portorož, Rimini and Marina Punat on the Croatian island of Krk, found a new ideal location in the area of ​​Pula's Marina Veruda, where the first four out of ten planned such floating objects were erected over the past few days.

"Croatia has one of the most beautiful coastlines in the world, and our idea was to allow guests arriving on that coast to stay not only along the ''first row'' to the sea, as they could before, but also in the first row in the sea.

For quite a long time now, these floating houses have provided a pleasant stay on the sea all over the world, so we're not discovering something entirely new, but just opening up the possibility to enjoy the same type of stay in the Adriatic,'' said Sebastian Selan.

In much of the world, this trend, as he says, is already recognised and people stay in floating houses when on holiday. People even live in such floating homes in some places, meaning that this idea in itself is no revolutionary novelty.

"In the canals of Amsterdam, along the Danube in Vienna or on the river Seine in the middle of Paris, this has been a common thing for a very long time, and it was actually very simple to imagine a similar story on the Adriatic coast,'' the director noted.

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We have seen significant investment in the development of high net worth tourism in Istria, with a proper eighteen hole golf course in Savudrija, San Rocco hotel and restaurant in Brtonigla, the new Roxanich hotel at Motovun and many gourmet level restaurants. Some of the finest wine in Europe is produced around here.

The latest boutique hotel to grace Istria, San Canzian/Noel, from the same people who have the Michelin starred Noel restaurant in Zagreb, combines all of these quite wonderfully. 

The hotel itself comprises a number of beautifully restored stone buildings either side of its own village street, in a sheltered lush green valley that looks out towards the sea, just South of the hill town of Buje, off the old Trieste-Pula road.

As I drove into the car park, I was greeted by a member of staff who phoned through to reception to announce my arrival and take my bag. We walked across to the main building into reception, where I was made welcome and given my contact-less key-card. The bedroom was more like the floor of a cottage, opening out onto the street, albeit decorated and fitted out to a standard that the previous owner of the building would not have recognised!

There was a spacious sitting area, which gave out onto its own private terrace, from which to sit and watch the setting sun. The air conditioning,  LED satellite TV, safe, well stocked minibar, lavish snack box and fluffy dressing gowns(ideal for the infinity pool) were all of a high standard. The large double bed was set in its own area and had pillow options including cooling (a NASA design), memory and aromatherapy ones. This area included a work table with convenient power points for a laptop (WiFi is complimentary) and on which could be found a half bottle of the excellent award winning Fakin Teran, glasses, a kettle and a Nespresso coffee machine with a selection of capsules, teas and crockery to restore the weary traveler. 

The bathroom was no less spacious, with a large walk in shower and had a wall hung WC, wash hand basin, hair dryer and a complimentary selection of Molton Brown toiletries.

On returning to the main building, I was offered chilled flannels, which were most welcome on a hot evening and a cocktail on the bar terrace. 

Dinner was due later, but in the meantime we were given a series of gourmet bonne bouches, including spiced beef on bone marrow, deep fried cod balls with scampi and truffled cream cheese with beetroot, interspersed with glasses of Prelac's Blanc et Noir Brut and Kabola's Re Brut sparkling wines. 

Noel has been fortunate to secure the services of top sommelier, Filip Savic, and his wine choices were extremely good. Instead of just serving up the usual suspects, he has reached out to other lesser known local wine makers, all of whom produce very good wines and carefully selected memorable wines from each of them. Most of the wines served were from grapes grown within 10km and only one more than 20km from the restaurant.

Dinner was served in the restaurant, on the floor below. The building is on a hillside and both bar and restaurant open on to terraces with wonderful views. The atmosphere was relaxed and casual, complimented by well trained and attentive staff.

The menu claimed six courses, but extra ones also appeared, as Chef Daniel Tschachler and his equipe showed off their talents, and the presentation was impeccable. The olive oil was a blend of Leccino and Buza and came with Welsh salt and Szechwan spices. The resident baker did us proud with a variety of breads. We started with foie gras, sweetbreads, rhubarb and cherry accompanied by the Fakin 2018 Malvasia that had won a gold at Decanter, in London.

Next came Frankovic's 2018 one, which went well with the bacon, caviar, beurre blanc and lentils.

This was followed by cuttlefish, lardo and a smokey bouillon acompanied by Degrassi's 2015 Terre Blanche, from his vineyard down the road. We then had a vegetable course, of mixed sauted and pickled vegetables, which had an oriental feel, paired with Valenta's 2018 Sauvignon Blanc.

Ivan Damjanic's 2013 Clemente cuvee made the most of the Scottish lamb, clams and salty herbs.

The next course was described as tomato,black olive and strawberry. The tomato was actually a crisp red shell, inside which was a mascarpone cream containing the other elements. It made for textural interest and Georgio Clai's 2017 Tasel cuvee was a good choice.

By this time it was midnight and after a final glass of bubbly on the terrace, it was off to bed. I was glad I didn't need to drive home!

In the morning, there was breakfast and I enjoyed freshly squeezed pink grapefruit juice, from fruit that I had selected, fresh apricot yoghurt and scrambled eggs and bacon, although I could have had egg in glass with smoked foie gras or boiled egg with truffle with prosciutto crumble, but you can have too much of a good thing!

Overall, I was impressed by the attention to detail and the enthusiasm of the staff who were all keen to make the hotel and restaurant a success.

Sonja Jelaca, the Manageress, Filip Savic, the Sommelier and  Daniel Tschachler, the Chef, have created a good team to make the most of this stunning new establishment in gorgeous Istria.

For more on establishments in Istria, wine and food from Istria and travel tips for destinations across the country, follow our dedicated travel page.

As Glas Istre/Duska Palibrk writes on the 27th of June, 2019, Pula Airport is experiencing some excellent growth and progression this year, which can be owed to intense cooperation between Pula Airport, the Istria County Tourist Board and local people working in the hotel and tourism industry.

''As of yesterday, when compared to last year, we recorded sixteen percent more passengers. The biggest increase we had was in April, by about sixty percent, in May, there was an increase of 35 percent.

That's exactly what we were working hard on throughout last year along with the Istria County Tourist Board and the hotel industry, boosting the pre-season and the season. Of course, we're not expecting such growth in July and August, but again in October, we'd like thirty percent more passengers. This year, we set a goal of 770,000 passengers. Yes, that would be a new record,'' Pula Airport's director Svemir Radmilo stated.

The low-cost airline company easyJet has opened up two new seasonal lines for Pula, Geneva, and Amsterdam. 

Flights from Geneva arrive at Pula Airport on Wednesdays and Saturdays, the very first of which landed last night, and from Amsterdam, flights arrive on Tuesdays and Sundays, and it will continue on like that until the end of August.

According to the flight schedule, the flight from Geneva to Pula arrives at 20:00 and returns back at 21:15. The seasonal line between Pula Airport and Amsterdam opened on Croatian Statehood Day (June the 25th), landing on Pula Airport's runway ten minutes ahead of schedule, at 19:30. On the first flight from Amsterdam there were 110 passengers, and upon departure from Pula Airport, there were 94.

EasyJet has thus become the number one carrier at Pula Airport. This year will see a total of twelve lines and about 150,000 passengers will arrive thanks to the ''wings'' of this popular low-cost carrier.

In addition to Geneva and Amsterdam, the aforementioned air company will connect Pula Airport with ten more European destinations. Until the end of August, EasyJet will fly to Pula Airpott from Paris on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, from Milan on Mondays and Fridays, from Berlin (Schönefeld) and Basel on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and from Bristol in the UK on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Until October the 13th, on Wednesdays and Sundays, there will be a direct Liverpool-Pula line, on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays until October the 20th, there will be a direct route between Pula Airport and Berlin (Tegel),, and until Thursday the 26th of October, Thursdays and Sundays will see a direct connection between Pula Airport and the British capital of London (Southend and Gatwick).

As far as flights are concerned, the director of the Pula Airport says that only the month of October has a question mark over its head, especially with regard to the UK, as the 31st of October is meant to be the country's new EU exit date. However, whether or not that means anything at all, as it hasn't so far with any previous planned exit dates - remains to be seen.

"We were concerned about Brexit during the pre-season, too, and nothing happened, so far, we haven't felt a bigger drop in the number of passengers, everything that comes from the United Kingdom is very full, all flights so far have been over 90 percent filled and we hope to continue this trend,'' said the director of Pula Airport, which can now proudly boast of more than seventy direct flights to Europe, of which 70 percent are with "low-cost'' airlines.

It isn't just EasyJet has just opened new lines for Pula Airport. Laudamotion has connected Pula and Stuttgart this season, Voltea has been connecting Pula Airport and Bordeaux since earlier this month, Jet2 connects Pula with Birmingham, and TUI UK connects it with Doncaster.

Asked how much Pula is recognised among Croatian travellers, as well as those from within Croatia's closer region, as the starting place to get to all of the aforementioned European destinations, Svemir Radmilo says he sees more and more Italian and Slovenian registrations parked at the airport, there are also those from Zagreb, Rijeka, Karlovac, and some remain parked there for days at a time.

''We're a tourist destination, people work during the summer season, seventy percent of people in Istria are working in tourism and they're not travelling during this time of year. The number of Croatian passengers using Pula Airport to travel abroad is greatest in April, September and October, but they make up only ten percent of our passengers. All the rest are international travellers who're coming to visit Croatia, ninety percent of them remain in Istria, others continue to other destinations. There are also those who fly to Dubrovnik, rent a car, and go in the opposite direction, towards Pula,'' concluded Svemir Radmilo.

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Pula is one of Istria's more heavily fequented gems, attracting tourists from across Europe and the rest of the world for its mixture of culture, heritage and history, as well as its ease of access to other parts of beautiful Istria in the northern Adriatic, as well as its connections to nearby Italy and Slovenia.

As Borka Pertrovic/Glas Istre writes on the 23rd of June, 2019, more than 11,500 tourists are currently staying in the Istrian city of Pula, which, compared to this time last year, has seen an increase in tourists of as much as 42 percent, as was announced by the Tourist Board of the City of Pula.

Just how crowded with tourists Pula currently is could be witnessed easily on Saturday, during a somewhat cloudy time, when the first drops of rain saw all of the tourists leave the beaches and head into the city creating crowds both in terms of road traffic and within the city itself.

Most of the guests, as we now know, come from other European countries, including Germany (3,378), Croatia (1,404), the United Kingdom (1,020), Austria (979), Slovenia (797) and Italy (622), and they're mostly accommodated in smaller renting facilities in which there are currently 4,793 tourists, and they're from other parts of Croatia as well as from abroad. There are also 1,913 such guests staying in Pula's hotels, 1,765 in various tourist resorts and apartments, while the smallest number of them are located in camps - a total of 1,693.

The pre-season, from the beginning of the year to the 15th of June, there were 2.5 percent more tourists, which is as has been stated from Pula's tourist board, satisfactory, especially considering that May was an extremely rainy month and that Easter fell later this year than it did last year.

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As Glas Istre/Davor Sisovic writes on the 14th of June, 2019, a good pre-season is a cause for the expectation that the main tourist season in Poreč will be excellent, said Poreč Tourist Board's Nenad Velenik, announcing that next season, in summer 2020, will be prepared for and run more differently than ever before.

As the post-Easter Catholic holidays during which tourists typically come to Istria in a larger number decreased back in May 2018, falling similarly once again this year in June, the results of tourist traffic in most Croatian tourist destinations for the first five months of this year have been worse than they were during the same period last year. Poreč has recorded 130,000 tourist arrivals and half a million overnight stays from January to the end of May, which is 17,000 overnight stays less than were recorded during the first five months of last year.

While this doesn't necessarily sound very promising, this is in fact very good, as a worse outcome was actually expected.

''We expected a worse result given the fact that last year, Poreč enjoyed a record 3.4 million overnight stays. Easter and May the 1st were excellent, and the beginning of June has also been very good, better than it was last year, said the director of the Poreč Tourist Board, Nenad Velenik. The total registered accommodation capacity in Poreč is 32,000 beds, of which 17,000 beds per day are full during the pre-season.

Although half a year ago, warnings about a lack of seasonal workers was being warned of as an acute and serious problem, the Istrian town's numerous tourism companies haven't been complaining about their lack of a workforce in recent weeks. Velenik believes, therefore, that the area's hoteliers were properly prepared for the tourist season and brought in their workforce from other countries on time.

''We're a multicultural environment and everyone who wants to work here is welcome to,'' said Velenik.

On the ''eve'' of 2019's main tourist season, a major public tourist investment was completed in Poreč: Materada beach was renovated and restored to its full glory, a project worth 5.7 million kuna, out of which 1.5 million kuna was settled by the town's local tourist board.

There are plans for several more investments in Poreč's overall tourist infrastructure, which will not be completed this season, because no major works can be completed during the main season. By the end of this year, the plans to have an adrenaline bike park in Poreč's bathing area worth 750,000 kuna, in the future the plan is to build an outdoor playground for children, also located in the same area with a price tag of 300,000 kuna, and the Poreč façade will continue to be renovated this year, with an investment of 250,000 kuna, which also contributes positively to the public image of Poreč as a tourist destination.

In addition to all of the above, 5.2 million kuna has been allocated for various manifestations due to take place in Poreč.

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As Glas Istre/Andjelo Dagostin/Gordana Calic Sverko writes on the 3rd of June, 2019, last week, a visit of foreign delegations to Istria took place. Istria's Zminj municipality was visited by a high delegation from South Korea, led by a personal envoy of Korean Culture, Tourism and Sports Minister Shin Kinam. Along with his colleagues, they were hosted by Željko Plavčić of Žminj, on the occasion of the fifth Assembly of Čakavian poetry that was held in Žminj last weekend.

The previous delegation held meetings with Minister of Culture Nina Obuljen Koržinek and President of the Croatian Olympic Committee Zlatko Mateš, and after Žminj they visited Pula. Among the delegation was a film producer and university professor Baek Hak Gi, journalist from the United Press International Lee Sang Bong, president of EZ Entertainment and university professor Na Jungyoon, and visiting coordinator, translator and member of the American Association of Architects, Redden Soonyoung. Žminj and Istria were visited upon the recommendation of the Croatian Ambassador to South Korea, Damir Kušen.

In Istria, more specifically in Žminj, members of the delegation discussed the establishment of economic, cultural and tourist co-operation with Plavčić. Direct investment was not discussed because this was just an initial visit, however, Kinam expressed the desire to concretise cooperation at the next meeting in Seoul. Kinam himself personally joined the celebration of Čakavian poetry by bringing up Korean poetry. Kinam has spent four mandates in the South Korean Parliament, is an experienced writer and author of the contemporary novel "The Person I met in Dubrovnik" (Osoba koju sam sreo u Dubrovniku).

The meeting in Istria highlighted the fact that Croatia was visited more than 560,000 Koreans last year, contributing to the quality of traffic connections between Seoul and Zagreb, which is certainly a prerequisite for Žminj to become a ''station'' for Korean tourists, as well as artists who could find inspiration in this very quiet and picturesque region of Istria, with its rich gastronomic offer and cultural heritage.

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As Morski writes on the 25th of March, 2019, the specialised portal Gastroposao, which was launched last year, and the City of Pula are continuing their cooperation this year, too.

The portal's aim is to tackle the problem of the lack of quality seasonal workers in hospitality and tourism, which is one of the biggest problems Croatian tourism has faced in recent years.

Following the good results of last year's pilot cooperation between the Gastroposao portal and the City of Pula, when during May and June, Pula's small and medium entrepreneurs in the fields of hospitality and tourism were greatly helped in terms of finding a quality workforce, this year the project is also including Istria, Rovinj and Medulin, as well as the town of Novalja on the island of Pag.

The City of Pula is the first city to recognise the need to create much more simple and exact measures of employment assistance in the field of hospitality and tourism, and has decided that all restaurants from the City of Pula can use incentives in the amount of 90 percent to finance their search for a quality workforce by announcing their search on Gastroposao.

''We're witnessing just how challenging it is to find a quality workforce today, especially in tourism. The tourist season is knocking at the front door and our intention is to quickly and easily "connect" the supply and demand on the labour market and this is why this project is important. If we continue to want to develop and make steps with our [tourist] offer, then it's crucial to have a high-quality workforce,'' said Pula's mayor, Boris Miletić.

Pula will provide direct assistance to all those in the tourism and hospitality sector before the tourist season kicks off, allowing them to easily and quickly find high quality seasonal workers from all over Croatia and beyond, without having to pay extra cash, and with minimal amounts of paperwork.

This means that those looking for staff only pay 100 kuna in costs when publishing an ad on Gastroposao, while the rest will be subsidised by their local government. This approach helps those in the hospitality and tourism industry because a great many small and medium-sized businesses are struggling to be able to get hold of the necessary resources needed for such moves otherwise. The only condition they must fulfil is that they are beneficiaries of measures in the areas of the cities of Pula, Rovinj and Novalja, or in the municipality of Medulin.

It's important to mention that Gastroposao cuts out the middle man and allows employer and employee to communicate directly to each other without any third parties. Employees don't need to write out any job applications and resumes, and they only need to fill in a prepared questionnaire on the Gastroposao portal which has been tailored to the professional terms and written language rules that chefs, waiters and other employees in such fields understand.

Otherwise, the Gastroposao project is co-funded under the IPA Local Employment Promotion Initiative - phase II of the European Social Fund, in the amount of 178,938.00 euro. Gastroposao is the only specialist portal in the Republic of Croatia for employment assistance in the tourism and hospitality sector.

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Pula's Arena Hospitality Group, which refers to itself as one of the most dynamic hospitality groups in Central and Eastern Europe, currently offers a portfolio of 26 owned, co-owned, leased and managed properties with more than 10,000 rooms and accommodation units here in Croatia, as well as in Germany and Hungary.

As Marija Crnjak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 5th of March, 2019, the total investments of the Arena Hospitality Group in 2018 and 2019 amount to 447 million kuna in hotels and camps in both the Republic of Croatia and over in Germany, plus the 190 million kuna that the group plans to invest in the reconstruction of the much loved Hotel Brioni (Brijuni). 

This was stated in the presentation of the Arena Hospitality Group's very impressive business results. The company claims it is also now ready for yet more new acquisitions across Central and Eastern Europe. As is already known, through public offers, the group collected a massive 788 million kuna back in 2017, and since then, they have invested on average three times more than before the public offer.

The Arena Hospitality Group is currently operating in the aforementioned three countries, under four brands, including Park Plaza and Art'otel, last year the company earned 758 million kuna in total revenue, an increase of 5.6 percent when compared to their record back in 2017, accompanied by healthy growth in all segments, hotels, tourist resorts and camp sites. In Croatia alone, they experienced handsome revenues of 503.8 million kuna.

After 2018's big investment in Glamping Arena One 99, worth 70 million kuna, this year, an investment of 128 million kuna is planned in Kažela camp, 60 million kuna is the planned amount to invest in Verudela Beach, a tourist resort, which should be completed by the year 2020, when the beginning of the works at Hotel Brioni (Brijuni) are planned. In the reconstruction of Art'otel Berlin Kudamm alone, the company will invest 53 million kuna.

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Click here for the original article by Marija Crnjak for Poslovni Dnevnik

It goes without saying that the EU has more positives than it does negatives, at least for most countries, but what of its ultra-stringent rules when it comes to fishing policies? Dalmatian and Istrian fishermen have some vastly different experiences when it comes to carrying out the task at hand, but they share one thing in common - EU rules seem to be unfairly pushing Croatian fishermen towards tourism and away from fishing, making a workforce more and more difficult to come across, and to keep hold of.

''In 1998, I asked some of my elders how I should distribute my earnings. They said: Fifty percent goes to the company, fifty percent goes to the crew. I still stick to those rules today, I've never deviated from them, so I don't have any problems with my crew,'' says fisherman Ante Juran from Vrsar.

As Morski writes on the 3rd of March, 2019, while fishermen in Istria have managed to keep their heads above water (no pun intended) for now, some alarming data has arrived from down south in Dalmatia, some boat owners are complaining that they can't find fishermen to work for them for love nor money. In Tribunj in Šibenik-Knin County, claims suggest that as many as ''fifty fishermen'' are missing. The crews are difficult to find, meaning that more often than not, there is an unskilled labour force working on the ships, compiled with people from all parts of Croatia simply looking for employment, and there is also a workforce from neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia present.

The media say that one Ugljan entrepreneur invested 2.9 million euros in a new fishing vessel, and is now "desperately seeking twenty fishermen'' to work on board. It has been claimed that nobody will fish even for a guaranteed wage of one thousand euros per month, at least according to a report from Glas Istre. Is that possible? In these paradoxical times - probably.

In Istria, everyone is reluctant to talk about the matter, but they all solemnly confirm that there are less and less available fishermen wanting to work, that is, there is no qualified or even unskilled labour willing to go fishing on these vessels. Vessels specifically built for ''commercial'' fishing are plagued by this issue. Only one such boat can be seen along the Rovinj coast, other places are occupied primarily boats that take tourists back and forth in the summer. Robert Momić, chair of the fishermen's guild at the Croatian Chamber of Trades and Crafts, says that the EU's often highly stringent rules don't leave much leg room, and they actively encourage fishing boat owners to focus mainly on tourism, leaving fishermen with little choice but to stray from this traditional industry, too.

''The system limits the fishing trade and more and more fishermen are finding that real profit lies in the transport of tourists. It's easier to make money driving tourists around to record how dolphins jump around in the open sea than to fish with respect to quotas and various other restrictions. The EU's operational programs should help fishermen stay at sea, and this doesn't go without boosting investment in new ships. Given the restrictive measures, there are fewer fishing days and, consequently, it's harder to pay workers and to keep up with tax obligations properly. One thing is certain: The fishing industry remembers better days, in today's legal environment, only big fishing vessels (ships of about thirty feet in length) can make money and offer decent salaries to each crew member, and a large vessel like that requires an average of nine crew members. The problem with us in Istria is that this season coincides with the height of the tourist season, when it's even more difficult to find crew members,'' says Robert Momić.

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Click here for the original article by Ello Velan for Glas Istre