The most frequent questions by those attending were about the hazards of oil exploitation in the Adriatic, what a disaster caused by it would mean for Croatian tourism and fisheries, and how and if Croatia would ever recover in such an event.
The authors of the study presented the effects the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons could have on tourism, fisheries, the fauna and the ecology, reiterating that this is an initial version of the study and that all proposals were welcome and would be discussed.
The documents presented were roundly criticised by various experts, notably representatives of ecological associations.
According to Sasa Poljanec Boric of the Ivo Pilar Institute, the presentation itself showed that there were many major dangers to the environment. Warning about numerous omissions, she said that tourism, potentially the most at-risk sector, accounted for 15 and not 8% of GDP and that it was drastically unrepresented in the study.
Petar Kruzic, a professor at Zagreb's Faculty of Science, asked which commission would be in charge of monitoring and if Croatia could hire independent experts. He noted that everything should be more transparent.
"Tourism and oil drilling don't go together, neither do fishing and oil drilling. Can you claim that, if exploitation is launched, there won't be a disaster in our part of the Adriatic? At this moment, there are more facts against than for oil exploration," Kruzic said.
Hydrocarbons Agency director Barbara Doric said that the exploration of the Adriatic had been going on for 40 years without any accidents.
Numerous participants in the discussion warned that oil drilling in the Adriatic carried far more risks than benefits, asking what would happen if oil erupted in a such a closed sea.
They warned that the study covered seismology extremely badly, asking why it did not envisage earthquake monitoring, and criticised the part of the study dealing with noise, which would cause most damage to fish stocks.
The president of the Eko Kvarner association, Vjeran Pirsic, hoped that the authors would significantly improve "the scandalously badly written study". Dusica Radojcic of Green Istria said the study was so embarrassing that it should be scrapped and that it was written disregarding legislation.
Doric countered that everything was done in line with legislation and that the Hydrocarbons Agency was doing everything to protect the Adriatic Sea.