August the 11th, 2024 – It has been as yet unofficially learned that fines are on the horizon for power boat skimming in Croatia. According to sources, they’ll be delivered directly to the offenders’ addresses.
As Morski/Jurica Gaspar writes, the huge (and ever increasing) number of violators who decide to simply ignore Croatian laws and regulations on navigation safety are going to face fines. This is especially the case for those who decide to skim in their motor boats too close to the coastline. It seems that the Ministry of Maritime Affairs intends to introduce proper law and order and slap violators with penalties.
Over just this past week alone, the local Rijeka maritime police sanctioned a staggering 53 people for illegal skimming in power boats. The problem also lies in the statistics that say that the majority of violators are foreigners. In yesterday’s case, which we’ll now take as an exemplary example, 19 Germans, 12 Italians, 9 Austrians, 5 Slovenians, 2 Slovaks, and one citizen each of Poland, France, Czech Republic, Hungary, Canada and Norway were all sanctioned for power boat skimming in Croatia.
All available units of the Maritime Police and Port Captains are on the ground all along the Adriatic coast. The total length of the Croatian coastline is 6,176 kilometres, of which the island coastline is 4,398 kilometres (71% of the total sea coast). Such vast expanses are obviously impossible to cover in real time with people and vessels. In addition to all this, both services must also monitor other segments of their job description, such as search and rescue, border surveillance, and the transport of emergency patients. Therefore, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs is preparing its first step towards complete control, for the beginning of the most critical or so-called “black spots” where power boat skimming in Croatia is common.
It has been rumoured that the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure is preparing a plan to install speed cameras at the most frequented points on the Adriatic starting next year.
The cameras will be solar-powered and will automatically record and measure speed, and fines will be sent to offenders’ home addresses. It will be carried out in a similar way MUP (Interior Ministry) does things on Croatian roads. The above has been unofficially learned from a reliable source from the Ministry of Maritime Affairs. How many such cameras there will be and where they will all be placed has yet to be determined.
