Croatian fishermen will have their lives and their work made much easier owing to the approval of exemptions for fishing with certain traditional methods, including the use of tow nets, which were formerly banned upon Croatia’s entry into the European Union.
As Morski writes on the 2nd of November, 2018, according to the Official Gazette of the European Union, the derogations which Croatia applied for, which provide for exemptions from the provisions of the EU’s Mediterranean Decree for Croatian fishermen operating in Croatian waters, have finally been officially approved.
With the publishing these documents, a multi-annual process, during which the Republic of Croatia applied for exemption from the provisions of the Mediterranean Decree, which prevented the use of certain fishing tools in a traditional way, has been completed, reported the Ministry of Agriculture.
This very welcome outcome was preceded by scientific research and the collection of arguments for exemptions for Croatian fishermen which were formulated in a management plan. These management plans, together with the derogations, were actually approved over the winter, but only with the publication of the implementing of these regulations does it become possible to implement them effectively into national legislation.
Fishing will take place according to the strict rules that had to be met, and continue to need to be met for the approval of the desired derogations. This move will not lead to an increase in fishing in general, nor will it negatively impact or cause any additional threat to coastal resources, habitats, or certain species of fish, but it will ensure the continuation of fishing with the use of former methods, in the manner and to the extent at which it stood before Croatia’s accession to the EU.
Although the process of obtaining these derogations for Croatian fishermen was an extremely complex process in itself, this much anticipated outcome once again enables the legal work of more than 100 fishing vessels which do use fishing nets. It also enables the retaining of traditional fishing gear and fishing methods which have been present on the Croatian part of the Adriatic sea for decades. Their recognition in European Union legislation will now become official.
”Those who know the fishing [industry] know how much work has gone into obtaining these exemptions and how much harmony and cooperation was needed for us to fight for our traditions, our heritage, and our lifestyle. This is the best example of how strong we are together and how much we care about preserving our values. This outcome is down to everyone who has been working on it for years,” stated Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture Tomislav Tolušić.
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