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A group of citizens from the islands of Cres and Lošinj launched an initiative to warn about the establishment of mariculture - fish farms in the water area of Ustrinjska uvala. Namely, they believe that they will have it unforeseeable consequences for the marine ecosystem, islands and tourism sector.
Because of everything, the islanders started signing the petition, which we transmit in its entirety:
Dear friends,
We are launching an initiative by signing a petition whose goal is to review and prevent the establishment of mariculture - fish farms in the waters of Ustrinjska uvala.
A private business entity created the project documentation, which is now based on the spatial plans of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County and the Towns of Cres and Mali Lošinj, with the ultimate goal of installing a fish farm in Ustrinjska uvala (Ustrinjska uvala is divided by the border between the towns of Cres and Mali Lošinj).
According to the available information, it is about the installation of bulky infrastructure - cages for breeding fish, anchor elements, protective markings and all other supporting equipment at locations around the registered natural and protected beaches of Porat, Baneštrovica, Veli Žal do Sadić and the area of Ugrada - almost all coves within Ustrinjska bays.
From already installed examples, it is known that in places where fish farms are set up, the areas become commercially fenced, i.e. protected access for users of the surrounding area.
In practice, these are commercial basins of economic importance, similar to economic port areas, where further commercial expansion of activities is possible. We are working on making Ustrinjska uvala and the aforementioned coves part of the aforementioned and from being one of the most beautiful coves on the island of Cres to becoming industrialized and commercially exploited with further opportunities for the expansion of commercial activities and accompanying infrastructure.
This type of investment, which we can freely call "ecocide", is considered contrary to the plans for the development of Ustrin as a natural cove with swimming pools, the development of tourism in harmony with nature, with the accompanying activities of an autochthonous coastal village, and above all the protection of the landscape while preserving the natural and cultural heritage.
Article 45 of the Spatial Planning Act (Official Gazette 153/13, 65/17, 114/18, 39/19, 98/19 and 67/23) on protected coastal areas (ZOP) states the following:
- ZOP is an area of special interest for the State
- ZOP covers the area of coastal units of local self-government - planning and use of the area of ZOP is carried out in order to protect, achieve the goals of sustainable, purposeful and economically efficient development with restrictions in the strip of land and islands with a width of 1000 m from the coastline and the strip of sea with a width of from 300 m from the coastline - The borders and the restricted area are shown on the Croatian basic map (HOK) supplemented with orthophoto maps.
Article 46 of the Law states that spatial planning in ZOP must:
1. preserve and rehabilitate endangered areas of natural, cultural-historical and traditional values of the coastal and coastal landscape and encourage the natural renewal of forests and indigenous vegetation
2. determine environmental protection measures on land and in the sea and especially protect drinking water resources
3. to ensure free access to the coast, passage along the coast and public interest in the use of maritime property.
4. preserve uninhabited islands and islets primarily for agricultural activities, recreation, organized visits, research and without the formation of construction areas
5. condition the development of infrastructure on the protection and preservation of landscape values
6. limit interconnection and longitudinal expansion of existing construction areas, i.e. plan new construction areas outside areas that are in the nature of forests
7. rehabilitate abandoned exploitation fields of mineral raw materials and production areas primarily through landscape recultivation or catering-tourist and sports-recreational purposes.
The creation of a fish farm in such a designated protected coastal zone, in the specific case of Ustrina, an area with evident limited sea currents and shallow depths, would certainly damage the ecology of the sea with lasting consequences.
The sea surface for mariculture and the area for determining the location for mariculture should be determined based on research and based on environmental impact assessments, and a public discussion should be held, especially taking into account the opinions of the local population, the petition states.
THE PLANNED LOCATION OF USTRINJA BAY OBVIOUSLY REPRESENTS THE WRONG CLASSIFICATION OF MARICULTURE IN THE SPATIAL PLAN OF ACTIVITIES WHERE THE IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT CERTAINLY DENIES THE JUSTIFICATION OF THE AREA FOR THE USE OF MARICULTURE - FISH FARMERS.
THE DETERMINANTS TO WHICH ARE OFTEN REFERRED TO THE DEVELOPMENT AND REVITALIZATION OF SMALL ISLAND PLACES ARE COMPLETELY OPPOSITELY CLASSIFIED WITH THIS PLAN AND PROCEDURE AS AN ACTIVITY BY WHICH PRIVATE CAPITAL IS USED TO DESTROY A SMALL PLACE AND THE POSSIBILITY AND OBLIGATION TO PRESERVE THE CULTURAL HERITAGE WITH THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF UNIQUE PRESERVED COASTAL VILLAGES AND LANDSCAPES.
The fact is that on the island of Cres there are no more beautiful coves, natural beaches than Ustrinjska and the one at the foot of Lubenica, so we don't know who bothers so much and wants to destroy it, and that will happen with the introduction of mariculture.
GIVE YOUR SIGNATURE AND LET'S PREVENT ECOCIDE WHILE WE STILL CAN!!
With this petition, we wish and ask the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, the Cities of Cres and Mali Lošinj to permanently delete the possibility of any kind of mariculture economic activity in the area of Ustrin and other access areas in the County and City Spatial Plans.
We also find it unacceptable to form all the land and sea infrastructure that mariculture in Ustrinjska uvala could bring with it or that would support it.
With your help, let Ustrina remain a part of untouched nature and a place where the law is respected for the benefit of everyone, says in petition, which is also translated to Italian, English and German languages.
