Attention sports skippers: a new legal regulation is now in force in Croatia that you should be aware of on your next trip. The “Regulation on the Safety of Shipping in the Inland Sea Waters and in the Territory of the Republic of Croatia and on the Manner and Conditions of Monitoring and Traffic Regulation at Sea” (SSVO), as the regulation is known in the most beautiful officialese, is primarily concerned with stipulations for sailing along the coast and organized bathing beaches, as well as for anchoring and mooring boats along the coast. SeaHelp presents the most important changes.
Just cruising along the coast by boat can now be expensive if, as a boat captain, you fail to observe certain new conditions of the new SSVO: Article 49, for example, makes clear statements about “coastal travel and organized bathing beaches”.
According to this, watercraft, among other things, are not allowed to approach the coast when navigating the internal sea waters and the territorial sea of the Republic of Croatia, specifically:
- Watercraft with a length of 30 meters or more and seaplanes no closer than 300 meters;
- watercraft with a length of 15 meters or more but less than 30 meters, no closer than 150 meters;
- watercraft with a length of less than 15 meters, no closer than 50 meters.
The new ordinance regulates travel along the coast and on an organized bathing beach
What applies to traveling along the coast shall also apply with immediate effect to traveling on an “organized bathing beach“. Specifically, watercraft may not approach the barrier of an organized bathing beach, and in particular:
- vessels with a length of 30 meters or more and seaplanes no closer than 300 meters;
- vessels with a length of 15 meters or more but less than 30 meters no closer than 100 meters;
- vessels less than 15 meters in length, no closer than 50 meters.
(In principle, the same rules of the road apply here as for driving along the coast, the only difference being that watercraft between 15 and 30 meters long may approach the coast up to 150 meters, but 100 meters is sufficient for the distance to an organized bathing beach. Conversely, this would mean that if there is an organized bathing beach on the coast (150 m distance), the 100 m distance rule applies. This seems illogical, but it is actually in the text of the regulation).
“It is possible that this is a typo in the regulations regarding the driving distance,” says Marko Orlic of the SeaHelp operations center in Punat, Croatia; the same minimum distance from the coast applies as from an organized bathing beach for the other categories, so he assumes that “probably 150 meters is correct”. This way, as a skipper, you are also “on the safe side”.
The new SSVO also defines “organized bathing beach” as distinct from a natural bathing beach.
In this context, an organized bathing beach is, according to the regulation, “a bathing beach with an infrastructurally and in terms of content designed land area that is directly connected to the sea and is demarcated on the sea side with a psychological barrier (line of buoys)” (in contrast to this, a natural bathing beach is “a bathing beach that is designated and marked as a natural sea beach in the spatial development plan of the local self-governing unit).
The above should only apply from sunset to sunrise (i.e. at night), because paragraph 4 stipulates a permit requirement. It literally states: “Personal watercraft may operate without restriction from sunrise to sunset (i.e. during the day) in an area up to 300 meters from the coast, except in the area of an organized swimming beach.
“This part of your article refers to personal watercraft (kayak, canoe, SUP, etc.)”, says Marko Orlic; these are only allowed to be operated during the day because they are not equipped with position lights. It is noteworthy in this context that Article 45 contains definitions that “as far as I know have not yet been used”. One of these definitions is the term “personal watercraft”.
What is new is that the SSVO is defining the term “personal watercraft” for the first time.
According to this, a “personal watercraft” is a “means, device or apparatus intended for locomotion over the sea, under the sea and on the sea, regardless of the means of propulsion, for which there is no obligation to register in the shipping register (e.g. canoe, kayak, gondola, pedal boat, stand-up paddleboard, windsurfing board, surfboard, kitesurfing board, electric windsurfing board, electrically operated air mattress, underwater scooter, etc.).
This definition has now made it clear for the first time that such watercraft do not need to be registered. This is important because there used to be a lot of questions about such objects, e.g. SUPs, kayaks or canoes that are longer than 2.5 m – and whether or not they need to be registered. Orlic: “Now, for the first time, it has been clearly stated that they do not have to be registered”.
Dinghies or tenders may – if they are not registered – move a maximum of 500 meters away from the mother ship.
Paragraph 9 further states: “A watercraft belonging to another maritime object and registered or marked as part of the main object’s equipment may move up to 500 meters from the maritime object to which it belongs, except when transporting persons and objects from the maritime object to the nearest landing stage or between the anchorage and the associated port”.
“This probably refers to a boat or yacht’s dinghy or tender,” says SeaHelp operations manager Orlic. If this is not registered, it may move 500 m from the mother ship or to the nearest point where it can unload people or things; if it is registered, it may “travel freely”.
Finally, a vessel that is located on another maritime object and is registered in the shipping register may sail without restrictions in accordance with the authorized navigation area for the purpose of carrying out work, sports or leisure activities.
Watercraft and personal watercraft may not approach the prescribed diver marking closer than 50 meters, unless the watercraft is accompanying a diver, and watercraft and personal watercraft may not be attached to or move on facilities for the safety of shipping, to devices and systems that are not intended for mooring.
Anchoring and mooring along the coast is now also regulated, and the existing regulations are being tightened.
But that’s not all: the SSVO also redefines anchoring and mooring along the coast in Article 53. The regulation defines “mooring to the coast” as “a type of mooring of a vessel in which the vessel is moored to the coast and secured with one or two anchors”.
With this article, the Croatian authorities seem to be reacting in particular to the selfish (and nature-destroying) behavior of some boaters who, in the past, often stretched mooring lines dozens of meters long across a bay, thus making it impossible for other boats (which would actually have had enough space) to moor (SeaHelp has already reported on this in detail).
Specifically, Article 53 states that “when selecting a place to anchor or moor to the shore, the person operating the watercraft must pay attention to places where anchoring or mooring is prohibited, as well as to other watercraft that are already anchored or moored”.
The person operating the vessel “must also act in such a way when sailing, berthing, mooring, casting off and anchoring that these actions do not endanger human life, pollute the sea or cause damage to their own or other maritime objects through collision, impact or grounding”.
According to the new SSVO, the captaincy may prohibit or restrict anchoring or mooring.
The competent captaincy is expressly granted the right “to prohibit or restrict anchoring and mooring on the coast in a specific area for all or certain vessels, depending on the length of the vessel and/or the spatial-temporal traffic organization”.
However, these areas with anchoring or mooring restrictions are to be “published in the official nautical charts and publications as well as on the website of the ministry” (it remains unclear whether this must be done before the ban or restriction by the Kapetaneria).
It is made clear in paragraph 5 that vessels must always “anchor or moor to the coast in such a way that this action does not endanger human life, property, the coast, the marine environment and the safety of navigation of other vessels and personal watercraft, taking into account the respective conditions, state of repair and spatial and other restrictions”.
Mooring ropes and anchor chains must not obstruct the movement of other vessels.
And in paragraph 6: “Mooring ropes and anchor chains of vessels must be marked accordingly and must not obstruct the movement of other vessels and personal watercraft”. “It is prohibited for vessels to moor along the coast in such a way that any part or appendage of the vessel is 50 meters or more from the coast” (paragraph 7), as well as ‘to moor in such a way that they damage the vegetation along the coast’ (8).
Marko Orlic explained that it is clear that the boat and the anchor chain – in other words, “everything that belongs to the boat” – must be within these 50 meters; “this automatically excluded larger boats, yachts, etc. that can block entire bays”.
According to paragraph 9 of the new SSVO, anchoring is also prohibited:
- in a sea area where an anchoring ban is indicated in official publications and nautical charts;
- in a sea area where anchoring has been banned or restricted by the maritime authority;
- near an underwater cable, pipeline or outlet, if the vessel is at any time within its swing circle above it;
- if the vessel is at any time within 50 meters of the barrier of an organized bathing beach;
- at a distance of less than 150 meters from the coast of a natural bathing beach.
Article 10 (paragraph 1) also prohibits mooring on the coast “in a sea area of an organized or natural bathing beach” as well as “at a point where an underwater cable, a pipeline or an outlet leads into the sea”.
