S.O.S. for the Adriatic Sea

"Družba Adria" is a project offered to the Croatian government by Russian Federation, with a main purpose to export high-sulphuerous Russian oil through Croatian oil pipeline system and Croatian harbour in Omišalj to the foreign market.
At the same time they do not consider high risks of enviromental
contamination, primarily that of the Adriatic sea as well as the contamination of the air and underground waters!
The Croatian government's decision to accept this project makes questionable a protection of Adriatic sea,it's biological diversity and potential ecological catastrophy which would threaten to destroy this unreplacable natural wealth!

Oil that would be transported through Croatian oil pipelines from Hungarian border to the Croatian harbour of Omišalj would present a great ecological danger, primarily due to the fact that JANAF's
("Jadranski Naftovod") oil pipelines are mainly corroded and they have already been snapped.
They also pass through the porous area of Croatian karst where are situated numerous underground flows of drinking water!

The oil coming in the harbour of Omišalj would be embarked into tankers, letting go of a few hundreds of thousands liter of ballast water, just immediately before embarking the cargo in harbours and thereby
interrupting again a nature's harmony of the Adriatic.

Ballast Waters enable the navigation of tankers when there is no cargo on them, but they contain toxic algs,pathogenic bacterias, viruses, exotic sea species, diverse inanimate rubbish, sewage waste from harbours of departure,chemichals, threatening the ecology of any sea in which they are being dropped by this unnatural, mass distribution
of organisms. A number of extraneous sea organisms perish during the navigation period, but one part of them outlive and by coming to a new habitat not rarely do they become invasive species!

Another important fact that needs to be known is that ballast waters are considered to be the main reason why fish-fund and biodiversity of Black Sea was destroyed in relatively short time!

Next peroblem is a quickness of intervention for sanifying a possible contamination after a damage of a tanker,
together with the fact that Adriatic sea is relatively shallow and closed with slow exchanges of sea streams best describing of how catastrofical consequences might occur in a case of oil leakage;

Therefor,with this petitoin we support Croatian enviromental organisation "Zelena Istra" and their action"S.O.S. for the Adriatic sea" with the main purpose of Croatia's stepping out of "Družba Adria" project and establishing the urgent measures of precautions in a presently existing tanker traffic!