US embassy cable - 03ZAGREB2227

C O N F I D E N T I A L  ZAGREB 002227 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
STATE PASS L/ASHLEY ROACH AND OES/BOB SMITH 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/15/2013 
TAGS: PREL, PBTS, PHSA, EWWT, EFIS, SENV, HR, Regional Issues 
SUBJECT: TROUBLED WATERS OVER CROATIA'S ECOLOGICAL AND 
FISHING ZONE? 
 
REF: A. ZAGREB 01903 
     B. ZAGREB 01925 
 
Classified By: Pol/Econ Counselor Nicholas Hill, Reason: 1.5 b and d 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
1.  (C) Croatia continues to have trouble with its neighbors 
and the EU over its economic zone waters.  On October 3, the 
Croatia parliament approved the government's proposal to 
proclaim an ecological and fishing zone in the Adriatic.  By 
scaling back its earlier plan to declare an exclusive 
economic zone (EEZ), and by deferring implementation of the 
zone for twelve months, the government hopes to blunt the 
wrath of the EU and neighboring countries.  The government 
apparently feared that the EU -- pushed by Italy and Slovenia 
-- would try to limit Croatia's options by unveiling at the 
November 25 Mediterranean Fisheries Ministers conference in 
Venice a proposal for a "joint economic zone."  End Summary. 
 
Showing They Can Disagree about Anything... 
------------------------------------------- 
 
2.  (U) On October 3, the Croatian parliament supported a 
government proposal to declare a fishing and ecological zone, 
a step down from the earlier proposal for an exclusive 
economic zone, with a delay in implementation of 12 months. 
Although the difference between a fishing and ecological zone 
and an EEZ is slight -- both are based on the Convention of 
the Law of the Sea -- the issue has emerged as a bone of 
contention for Croatia's ruling coalition.  The largest party 
in the coalition, the Social Democrats (SDP), argued that 
Croatia could avoid worse problems with the EU by scaling 
back the scope of its extension of jurisdiction.  The 
opposition plus the Peasants Party (HSS) -- the ruling 
coalition's second largest party -- argued that it would be a 
betrayal of national interests if Croatia did not exert its 
full rights.  In the end, the HSS agreed to the government's 
proposal after a non-substantive amendment was added.  With 
eyes on parliamentary elections -- expected on November 23 -- 
all parties saw this as a net political gain with the 
Croatian public. 
 
EEZ Option Endangered 
--------------------- 
 
3.  (C) Andreja Metelko-Zgombic, head of the MFA's 
International Legal Department, confirmed that the country 
delegations to the September 24 Brussels prepatory meeting 
for the Venice Conference of Fisheries Ministers had indeed 
urged Croatia not to act unilaterally -- a posture she found 
somewhat hypocritical, given that a number of European 
countries had declared unilaterally fishing and/or ecological 
zones, including in the Mediterranean.  She believed that 
Italy was developing a novel idea for a "special" regime for 
the Adriatic.  Croatia has long maintained its right to 
declare an exclusive economic zone, including relevant 
language from the Convention on the Law of the Sea in its 
domestic Maritime Code from 1994.  It would be harder to 
invoke this right, she said, if and when the EU clearly 
stated a preference for a different solution. 
 
4.  (C) Zgombic reaffirmed that Croatia felt confident it 
could and should accommodate Slovenian economic interests in 
fisheries.  She said only two Slovenian boats now enter the 
high seas, mainly to catch sardines for Slovenian canneries. 
Their needs would be addressed easily.  More difficult would 
be Slovenia's political needs.  Zgombic said a 1993 Slovenian 
parliamentary declaration set as a Slovenian diplomatic 
imperative "territorial contact" with the high seas and 
control over the entire Piran Bay.  She told us that the 
Slovenian position was emotionally charged and, from a legal 
perspective, largely "irrational." 
 
The Adriatic as a European Sea 
------------------------------ 
 
5.  (C) "The Adriatic must be a European sea," said an easily 
exasperated Slovenian diplomat we talked to on October 7. 
Jadran Hocevar, the Political Counselor and sometime DCM, 
told us he was outraged by the Croatian declaration of the 
ecological/fisheries zone.  He said that Slovenia's economic 
interests could be more easily accommodated than its 
political interests: "We have 30 commercial fishermen, 46 and 
a half kilometers of coast, and 1000 years of history."  He 
predicted that the declaration would make implementation of 
the 2001 border "agreement" between Slovenia and Croatia more 
difficult -- an implausible comment given that the Croatians 
have said over and over again that the deal initialed by 
representatives of the two prime ministers was a dead letter 
already because the Croatian parliament would not ratify it. 
 
Chasing the Few Fish Left 
------------------------- 
 
6.  (C) Hocevar noted that Italian interests would be even 
harder to accommodate than Slovenia's.  The Italian side of 
the Adriatic has been fished out almost completely -- a point 
the Italian DCM conceded to us privately.  "We've over-fished 
our side of the Adriatic," he said bluntly during a reception 
last month.  "We must fish in the eastern half."  As a 
result, large Italian fishing vessels regularly ply close to 
-- and occasionally in -- Croatian territorial waters, taking 
advantage of the rich spawning areas off Croatia's vast 
network of islands.  While Slovenia caught about 1,500 tons 
of fish a year, and Croatia about 30,000 tons, Hocevar 
estimated Italy's catch at "several hundreds of thousands" of 
tons.  For their part, the Croatians point to independent 
studies showing that fish stocks in the Adriatic are in steep 
decline. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
7.  (C) Science and politics have mixed to create the GOC's 
current problems over its waters.  The ruling coalition faces 
considerable political pressure to do more to protect its 
waters and diminishing fish stocks.  While it would be easy 
to ascribe the current kerfuffle to GOC incompetence -- a 
default explanation that usually works -- on this issue, the 
government may conceivably be acting shrewdly, although the 
strength of EU displeasure has yet to be measured.  The 
Venice Conference looms large and the GOC may want to improve 
its negotiating posture in advance.  Given its EU-centric 
focus, it will likely cede much to its neighbors -- allowing, 
for example, Italian trawlers to fish in its ecological zone 
and Slovenian ships to enter at will.  What the Croatians 
will not want to cede will be their right under international 
law to declare an ecological and fishing zone.  And they will 
want to exclude vessels from outside the region -- for 
example, Asian fish factory trawlers.  On this point, they 
should not have difficulty gathering a chorus of supporters 
among the participants in Venice. 
 
MOON 
 
 
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