On May 7th 2026, employees of the Public Institution for the Management of Protected Natural Areas of Dubrovnik-Neretva County participated in the scientific and professional conference titled Integration of Policy, Science, and Community in Coastal Management, held at the Municipality of Tivat. The conference was organized as part of the Wind Festival 2026 under the leadership of the Sailing Club Delfin Tivat, in cooperation with the Faculty of Maritime Studies Kotor and the Institute of Marine Biology of the University of Montenegro, with the support of the municipalities of Tivat and Kotor. The event brought together representatives of institutions, scientists and experts in the fields of maritime affairs, marine protection, and coastal zone management.
The introductory presentation was delivered by employees of the Public Institution, who presented concrete results and activities of the BIOPRESSADRIA project within the Interreg Italy–Croatia programme. The presentation also provided an overview of nature protection in the Republic of Croatia, with particular emphasis on the network of protected areas and the Natura 2000 ecological network in Dubrovnik-Neretva County. The main part of the presentation focused on the BIOPRESSADRIA project, highlighting anchoring as a growing pressure on marine ecosystems, as well as specific project activities such as the analysis of nautical tourism pressures using satellite methods and the possibilities for establishing environmentally friendly mooring systems.
The central part of the conference was a panel discussion on the challenges of sustainable coastal management, with emphasis on the pressures of nautical tourism, overfishing, and the need for stronger institutional cooperation. The message conveyed throughout all presentations and discussions was clear: the Bay of Kotor is facing increasing anthropogenic pressures, and addressing them requires the joint action of science, policy, and the local community. As emphasized during the conference, the community must not remain a silent observer when it comes to the area in which it lives, and the sea should not be viewed as a given resource, but rather as part of the local identity and a shared responsibility. The experiences and results of the BIOPRESSADRIA project demonstrated that cross-border cooperation and knowledge sharing can make a concrete contribution to this protection.
In addition to the Public Institution, project partners include the Association for Nature, Environment and Sustainable Development Sunce, the scientific organization SELC from Venice, the Consortium for Coordination of Research Activities Concerning the Venice Lagoon System – CORILA, the Consortium for the Management of the Porto Cesareo Marine Protected Area in Puglia, the Public Institution Kornati National Park, and the Public Institution for the Management of Protected Natural Areas of Split-Dalmatia County MORE I KRŠ.
The total value of the project is EUR 2,369,480.00. The value of the activities carried out by the Public Institution amounts to EUR 254,000.00, while co-financing from the European Union through the Interreg Italy–Croatia 2021–2027 programme amounts to 80.00% (EUR 1,895,584.00).
