03/08/2024
Today, a peaceful protest was held on the island of Rab against the establishment of fish farms in the island's waters, specifically in the waters of the municipality of Lopar. This was included in their spatial plan under the radar, so it was not known for some time until the information leaked to the public. Once the information leaked, the island's residents were in shock because this is something that should have been presented to the public before going into process, but that's how it goes here.
The Rab Fishermen's Guild Association initiated this protest, and everyone who cares about the island's clean underwater environment responded. We are talking about a number of about 500 protesters. About a hundred gathered on the mainland at Zlatni Zalaz, while the rest were spread out on boats, SUPs, and kayaks, of which there were over a hundred, as shown by aerial footage. It wasn't just the locals but also their guests who have been coming here for decades to enjoy the natural benefits without pollution. Such guests are hard to get back if we lose them.
Among the protesters were the mayor of Rab, Mr. Nikola Grgurić, and the head of the Rab City Office, Zvonko Puljar – Matić, from the ranks of the HDZ. This is somewhat strange since it is the same party that rules Lopar and adopted the spatial plan. HDZ from the city of Rab opposes this decision and claims they were unaware of it, although that is hard to believe. However, we expect more from them, and time will tell.
Many comments are directed towards the notion that, of course, fishermen are against fish farms because they will lose their jobs and that the protesters are victims of this lobby. This is not true because the majority of people who attended the protest are environmentally conscious and know the consequences of these projects, which are increasing year by year, and it is necessary to know when to say enough is enough. The current number of fish farms is sufficient for the Croatian market, and the vast majority of the fish is exported.
So, it is all about money and balances, while ecology and the impact on marine life are not discussed or written about, and even less research is done. Thus, this industry is left to a pure capitalist process where concern for people and the environment is the least important.
Rab residents are aware that large amounts of waste, excess food, and metabolic products of fish settle on the bottom, and the organic load in the sediment under the fish farms increases, which can impact the structure of bacterial populations.
Mariculture uses various chemical substances for its needs, which can have unpredictable effects because most of these substances were developed for agriculture and were never tested for their impact on the aquatic environment. These are mostly antibiotics, pesticides, food additives, hormones, and anesthetics. Hormones are used to regulate the reproductive cycle of fish, anesthetics are used during transport to calm the animals, pesticides are used to control ectoparasites on fish, various food additives are used to speed up the growth and development of fish, and antibiotics are used to control diseases.
Even without some of these substances, tourism is an important factor in the coastal area, generating high employment and thereby dictating conditions. Tourism prevents the development of mariculture due to visual pollution, especially near beaches, oily stains that form around fish farms, numerous seagulls that inevitably appear near fish farms and later pollute the coast with their droppings, and the intense smell of fish and associated infrastructure on the coast.
Therefore, we must ask ourselves whether the enrichment of individuals or the enrichment of the community is more important to us? Is a clean underwater environment or a polluted one more important to us? How many fish farms are enough to meet market needs? The answer to this last question is countless, although the real answer should be as many as are sufficient to meet the needs of the Republic of Croatia.
