ZAGREB, Nov 28 (Hina) - The Croatian assistant minister for fisheries, Ivan Katavic, said on Friday that Croatia had declared a fishing and ecological zone in the Adriatic at the right moment as declaring such a zone after the Venice
conference would have been "out of place".
ZAGREB, Nov 28 (Hina) - The Croatian assistant minister for
fisheries, Ivan Katavic, said on Friday that Croatia had declared a
fishing and ecological zone in the Adriatic at the right moment as
declaring such a zone after the Venice conference would have been
"out of place". #L#
Katavic was speaking at a press conference in Zagreb, presenting
the declaration on sustainable fisheries in the Mediterranean that
had been adopted at the ministerial conference in Venice earlier
this week.
"The message of the declaration is 'stop precedents', but article
10 clearly says that the existing precedents should be taken into
account," Katavic said.
He took questions from the press as to whether Croatia would have
been able to declare a protected fishing zone after the Venice
conference at which 36 interested countries had agreed on common
mechanisms to revive and protect fisheries in the Mediterranean.
"It would be out of place to reach out for a mechanism of this kind
today, because (the declaration) instructs for such decisions to be
coordinated and based on dialogue," Katavic said.
"I think the decision was made at the right time. Perhaps it would
have been better if it had been made even earlier, but it was made at
the last moment," he added.
The Venice conference ended on Wednesday with the signing of a
declaration voicing broad consensus for the need to improve
fisheries management in the Mediterranean.
The conference was organised by the European Commission and the
Italian presidency of the EU, and the declaration was signed by all
36 European and Mediterranean countries, as well as Russia and
Japan, whose fleets are fishing in the open seas of the
Mediterranean.
Katavic said that by adopting the declaration the Mediterranean
nations had shown the political will to gradually apply measures
for the recovery and establishment of sustainable fisheries.
"In order to achieve this, it is necessary to expand national
jurisdictions to establish protected fishing zones," he said.
"Otherwise the fishing industry will collapse and that will result
in a social crisis in coastal areas and a serious threat to the
Mediterranean way of life."
Katavic said that it was particularly important that the
declaration set time limits for the implementation of given
measures.
By October next year, the General Fisheries Commission for the
Mediterranean should put together scientific assessments, propose
ways of monitoring biological stocks in the Mediterranean, and
draft a programme for the regulation of fishing, with an emphasis on
protected areas, he said.
A system of control of the sea and ports using state-of-the-art
technology and effective measures for the punishment of illegal
fishing should also be in place by that time, Katavic said.
(hina) vm