EU nations at WAR over fishing as Slovenia FINES foreign fishermen for entering waters

A war of words has erupted between Croatia and Slovenia in a dispute over fishing waters in the Adriatic Sea. 

Both countries claim the the Piran Bay area, with Slovenia recently fining Croatian fishermen for fishing in the area. 

International adjudicators agreed with Slovenia, claiming they should also be given a sea corridor through Croatia’s territory to international waters.

However Croatia disagreed and responded furiously. Talks aimed at reeling in the dispute have so far proved fruitless. 

Zagreb’s foreign ministry today said it would begin fining Slovenian fishermen unless Ljubljana’s scaled back its own response. 

A spokesman said: “Croatia will be forced to respond in the same way in order to protect its territory. 

“We believe that Slovenia’s announcement is contrary to good neighbourly relations and European values.”

Croatia have ignored a six-month deadline for the implementation of the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s ruling, which stated the waters belonged to Slovenia. 

Croatia instead said it wanted a bilateral solution with Slovenia and called upon its European Union peer not to undertake any unilateral acts.

Slovenia’s police said on Friday it had forwarded the first 14 fines to Croatian fishermen for “illegally crossing Slovenia’s maritime border”. 

It said it would continue with the same policy next week and that those who refused to pay may be banned from entering Slovenia.

Croatia’s government told the fishermen to ignore the fines from Slovenia but to forward them to the Croatian police instead. 

Croatia’s police said on Saturday it would respond with fines for Slovenian fishermen for “illegally crossing the sea border”.

It comes after fishing campaigners hit out at the EU following a vote on measures which could leave European waters “in a worse state”. 

Last week the European Parliament voted against quantitive binding targets aimed at reducing the number of small fish caught in European waters.

These measures are key to ensuring fish can reproduce and could leave Europe’s waters understocked.

Björn Stockhausen, fisheries policy officer at the Seas At Risk alliance, agreed the measure will not benefit the industry. 

He said: “The European Parliament has weakened the measures that have granted protection to European seas for decades. These new diminished rules will undermine the health of marine ecosystems and the stability of fish stocks.”

“As a result of the votes the future of the ocean and the protection of ecosystems are at risk. Except for the electric fishing case, this regulation is unacceptable as it stands now. 

“We are not convinced that the trilogue negotiations among member states, the commission and the European Parliament will improve the situation at all.”