The State Secretary for Sea Branko Bačić stated that Croatia would refer a proposal to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) by the end of the year asking for the Adriatic Sea to be proclaimed a particularly sensitive area. At today’s presentation organized in Šibenik he also pointed out that Croatia had already initiated and implemented a series of security measures for the protection of the Adriatic Sea from pollution caused by ballast waters.
Further Bačić said that starting from May 1st, 2008 the Protected Ecological and Fishery Zone would be applied to EU member countries and that from that moment on the public audience would be more interested in the fishery and not so much in the ecological aspect of that Zone.
The Ministry of the Sea, Tourism, Transport and Development, passed an Ordinance for the governance and supervision of water ballast which will become effective starting from September 1st. Croatian ports registered in 2006 the discharging of 2, 5 million tones of ballast waters. Most of that amount was traced in the area of the Rijeka Port Authority.