VZCZCXRO1041
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHVB #1504/01 3551026
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 211026Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY ZAGREB
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7075
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ZAGREB 001504 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR EUR/SCE BALIAN AND RIEHL 
BUDAPEST FOR ESTH HUB 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON EFIS ECIN HR
SUBJECT: CROATIA VOTES TO ACTIVATE ADRIATIC FISHING ZONE IN 2008 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Amid no small amount of political posturing, the 
Croatian parliament voted to activate Croatia's self-declared 
Protected Ecological and Fishing Zone (ZERP) in the Adriatic as of 
January 1, 2008.  The ZERP, first enacted prior to the last round of 
parliamentary elections in 2003, has never been activated as a 
result of EU opposition, led by Italy and Slovenia and Croatia's 
fear that its accession negotiations could be harmed as a result. 
The intent of the ZERP is to extend regulations on sizes and seasons 
of catches that currently apply only to Croatia's small domestic 
fishing fleet to foreign-flagged vessels fishing within Croatia's 
Adriatic Exclusive Economic Zone.  In the December 15 vote, 
opposition parties took maximum advantage to force the Government's 
hand in advance of next year's elections.  However, the activation 
of the zone in 2008 is anything but certain.  Not only are Italy and 
Slovenia likely to continue their opposition, but Croatia does not 
have the capacity for enforcement over such a large area of open 
sea.  End Summary. 
 
History of the ZERP 
------------------- 
¶2. (SBU) In 2003, just prior to the last round of parliamentary 
elections, the Croatian parliament passed a law declaring the 
creation of a Protected Ecological and Fishing Zone (ZERP) in the 
area of the Adriatic between the outer edge of Croatia's territorial 
waters and the midpoint of the Adriatic where Croatia's Exclusive 
Economic Zone meets Italy's.  The creation of the ZERP, long sought 
by Croatia's fishing industry, provoked a quick reaction from Italy, 
whose large, subsidized fishing fleet regularly trawls the waters of 
the Croatian half of the Adriatic.  With EU membership negotiations 
still hanging in the balance, the new government that came to power 
in December of 2003 quickly moved to exempt EU member state 
countries from the ZERP. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Croatia's fishing industry is small, old and at a decided 
disadvantage in the competition for diminishing Adriatic fish 
stocks.  In calling for the ZERP, Croatian fishermen hoped that 
imposing more stringent restrictions on Italian vessels would help 
bolster their position and preserve Croatia's natural heritage from 
Italy's rapacious, industrial fishing fleet.  These restrictions 
include limits on size, quantity, fishing seasons and vessel size 
and horsepower.  Croatians who follow this issue are quick to point 
out the fact that the Italian side of the Adriatic is virtually 
devoid of marine life after years of over-fishing.  However, when 
the new Government decided in 2004 not to extend the ZERP to EU 
member states, the result was that the new rules applied only to the 
Croatian fleet and Italian boats continued to fish on the Croatian 
side of the Adriatic without any restrictions.  This has led to 
charges of "discrimination" against Croatian fishermen that found 
new political traction with the 2007 elections already in sight. 
 
Italians Fishing Off Croatia's Pier 
----------------------------------- 
¶4. (SBU) Relations with Italy, a former colonial power on Croatia's 
Dalmatian coast, are always delicate.  Opinion among Croatian 
fishermen, politicians and environmentalists is that Italian fishing 
practices are destroying the Adriatic ecosystem.  Assistant Minister 
for Fisheries Ivan Katavic told us recently that Italy's subsidized 
fleet is many times larger than Croatia's and, in fact, has 
significant over-capacity.  Italian boats regularly fish on the 
Croatian side of the Adriatic and even enter Croatia's territorial 
waters, which include some of the few places with still plentiful 
stocks.  According to Katavic, the Italians do not follow Croatian 
regulations on the size or quantity of fish caught, as there is a 
substantial Italian domestic market for gourmet delicacies made of 
small, juvenile fish. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Croatian police periodically detain Italian fishermen, but 
as Katavic told us, the Italians have developed the incursions to an 
art form, allowing only decrepit decoy vessels to be caught while 
the more modern vessels get away with the catch.  Croatia, which has 
no coast guard, also has few resources with which to patrol 
thousands of kilometers of coastline. 
 
GOC Between a Rock and the EU 
----------------------------- 
¶6. (SBU) Having begun negotiations for EU membership in October 
2005, the GOC is loath to do anything that could slow what is its 
single most important foreign policy goal.  As the Croatian 
government took the issue up this month, reaction from the European 
Commission was that Zagreb should refrain from "unilateral" and 
"non-neighborly" acts.  Croatian PM Sanader, already feeling 
significant pressure over the issue, accused the resident EU 
ambassador of being misinformed and overstepping his mandate. 
 
¶7. (SBU) EU pressure on Croatia over the ZERP comes from Italy and, 
to a lesser degree, Slovenia, both of which have also declared 
protected areas in the Adriatic.  Slovenia's self-declared zone even 
extends into Croatian territorial waters, part of the on-going 
contretemps between the two countries over their maritime boundary. 
 
ZAGREB 00001504  002 OF 002 
 
 
However, with Slovenia set to become the first 2004 accession 
country to take over the EU presidency in 2008, the stakes for 
Zagreb are high. 
 
¶8. (SBU) The Government managed to beat back opposition calls for 
the immediate activation of the ZERP, delaying its application to EU 
member states until January 1, 2008.  With this, Sanader has 
succeeded in neutralizing the issue for the 2007 elections, but the 
larger question of relations with Italy and Slovenia and, therefore, 
the EU still looms.  Whether Croatia will risk further friction with 
Brussels over this issue is unclear, since the measures will likely 
only be temporary.  Once Croatia does join the EU, Croatia's waters 
will become EU waters and fisheries management will be decided in 
Brussels. 
 
Biggest Losers: The Fish 
------------------------ 
¶9. (SBU) Despite Croatia's insistence that the ZERP will help 
preserve fish stocks in the Adriatic, the GOC is also subsidizing 
the construction of a more modern fishing fleet in order to capture 
anticipated EU quotas upon Croatia's entry into the Union.  While 
Croatia's harvest is therefore likely to increase over the coming 
years, the lack of any means to actually control Italian fishing in 
the Adriatic means that the ZERP is not likely to change much, even 
if Croatia does stick to its guns and apply the measure to EU member 
states after January 1, 2008. 
 
BRADTKE