Across Marine Borders

The Croatian city of Split has a beautiful setting on the Adriatic coast. In the centre of town, the Roman Diocletian’s palace and the cobbled streets provide the perfect, romantic frame for tourists and locals alike.

On an ordinary morning in late October the sky is blue, the streets are quiet and a couple of fishermen are trying their luck. A grandfather strolls his happy grandson to look at the big catamarans. The sea is calm, clear and blue. The state with the long coastline makes seven billion Euros a year from tourism, by far its most important source of revenue.

UNDER THREAT | Overfishing and illegal fishing is one of the challenges for the Adriatic Sea.

THE SENSITIVE SEA
But the Adriatic Sea is under threat, according to the researchers in the Norwegian-Croatian project. Overfishing and unregulated as well as illegal fishing add up to a major problem in these waters. This has led to the near extinction of some of among 450 species of fish in the Adriatic – especially some commercially valuable bottom-dwelling fish stocks.

The ever-growing number of oil tankers is a continuous threat to the pristine coast. On average, more than 200 small oil spills go into the sea every year. These are mainly discharges resulting from washing ship tanks. This happens in spite of the Special Area status of the entire Mediterranean, which prohibits all kinds of oil discharges.

Seventy million tonnes of oil a year are transported in the Adriatic. Today, most of it goes to Italian ports, but plans are being made for new pipelines for Russian and Caspian oil to be exported to the Mediterranean through the Adriatic Sea. An accident involving an oil tanker would have devastating effects on the Adriatic marine environment and the coastline. Ballast water transfers, which will increase alongside oil and cargo traffic, are another potential source of pollution. If ballast water is discharged into this relatively narrow, shallow and semi-enclosed sea, it could contaminate the waters with harmful aquatic organisms.

Current management of the Adriatic Sea is not good, according to Dr. Davor Vidas, the Norwegian project leader with Croatian origins, who is a senior research fellow at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute. Vidas is an expert on the Law of the Sea, which defines the rights and responsibilities of nations in their use of the world's oceans, establishing guidelines for business and industry, the environment, and the management of marine natural resources.

DR. DAVOR VIDAS | Director of Marine Affairs and the Law of the Sea Programme at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute in Norway.

FROM THREE TO SIX
Before the war on the Balkans, there were three countries bordering the Adriatic Sea: Italy, Albania and Yugoslavia. Today there are six: Italy, Albania and the new states Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia and Montenegro. Croatia’s long coastline is dotted with 1246 islands and islets surrounded by clear blue water, while the western, Italian side has no islands and not the same clear water because of the mouth of the River Po in the north. Tourists flock to the Croatian coast, while the Italians dominate by far in fisheries and shipping.

These issues illustrate the need for regional cooperation on the marine environment. One area of research is how to secure sound marine environmental protection and resources management in spite of pending delimitation issues among the countries bordering the Adriatic. The project group analyses the jurisdictional issues and disputes in the Adriatic Sea, offering analysis to governments and policy-makers in the region. Some of the research partners have already cooperated on another project for the Croatian Ministry of the Sea. This resulted in an initiative to declare the Adriatic Sea a particularly sensitive marine area. The proposal was made, and was almost ready to be sent to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) as the six Adriatic coastal states approached an agreement.

“There is a delimitation conflict between Croatia and Slovenia, a border dispute that there is actually no rational reason for keeping so high on the political agenda,” Vidas explains.
“We hope that this project will spread an understanding of how important international law is for long-term stabilisation of the region. This project argues for maritime borders to be established according to international law,” Vidas says.
“The key in this research is not to become politicised, even though it is political,” he adds.

DR.NENAD LEDER | Assistant director of the Hydrographic Institute in Split, Croatia.

LONG-TERM RELATIONSHIP
The Norwegian connection with Croatian marine science has existed from the very beginning. The very first Croatian research institute devoted to marine science, the Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, was established in 1930 by the Norwegian Professor Hjalmar Broch, who had won an international call for the position of director. The institute is one of the partners in the present research group.
Another of the institutions involved is the Hydrographic Institute of Croatia, also located in Split. Dr. Nenad Leder is the assistant director for science and oceanography at the institute.

“If a new port is to be built, we need to check the geology, current and wave patterns, sea level and offer suggestions about how to make the port secure,” Leder explains, pointing to a new port being built in the centre of Split.

The Hydrographic Institute, which is a state institution, approves all building activities in or by the sea. The institute performs studies of the topography of the ocean floor, tests sediments and produces environmental impact studies, as well as nautical charts for navigation. In the research project, the institute has produced charts of oil spills in the Adriatic, of the proposed Exclusive Economic Zone and of the disputed border areas.

A WORLD WITHOUT BORDERS
Academic output from the research project has been large.
“We have actually done more than we said we would in the proposal,” Vidas says.

“I have written not one, but three books. The researchers involved have published a number of articles in academic journals. We have cooperated with Croatian Radiotelevision on a TV documentary for the general public about the oceans in globalisation, including the Adriatic Sea issues, and we are currently thinking of making another one, which will summarise the major findings in the project."
Davor Vidas has also been outspoken in the Croatian media, and the researchers have had meetings at several political levels.

“The politicians need us,” Leder says. “Politics has never led to sustainable solutions. Final solutions can only be reached on the basis of scientific results.”

In 2005, the Croatian President Stjepan Mesic visited the Fridtjof Nansen Institute in Norway and the Croatian Ministry of the Sea distinguished the institution with its annual award for the Institute’s contribution to the protection of the marine environment in Croatia.

“The borders in the Adriatic Sea have been in dispute since the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1204, when the Venice claimed ownership rights over the whole Adriatic Sea,” Vidas says.
“Today, the key challenge is to have maritime boundaries based on international law, instead of political power. But one distant day we will have no borders. In the meantime, we will need to realise that we have to conserve and share the resources.”