Hundreds of Croatian fishermen on Saturday staged protest rallies in several coastal cities and towns, including Split, Pula, Sibenik, Zadar, Rijeka and Umag, and on a few islands to express their dissatisfaction with how they were treated by the Agriculture and Fisheries Ministry.
The fishermen accused the ministry of allowing the Italians to "destroy resources and the future of the Adriatic sea and the Croatian fishermen." They said that over a period of 14 years the Italians had caught fish in Croatian waters in the amount equivalent to "the value of the Split-Zagreb motorway".
The protesters called for the proclamation of an economic zone and establishment of Croatian sovereignty over 23,000 square kilometres at sea. They also demanded lower prices of fuel for their boats.
The rallies, organised by three fishermen's associations, began at noon with fishermen's boats sounding their sirens.
