Journal of the seventyfourth day on board

15th July, 1999

A metereological pause

The state of health of the Mediterranean is worrying and not everybody is aware of it.
A few weeks ago I happened to see a series of ships, off Malta, cleaning their bilges into the sea. The ship owners were saving on an ecological based clean and, therefore, a bit of money, but nevertheless damaging the sea and damaging all of us. It seems that few people are knowledgeable that the sea is for everybody and that, above all, it falls on us such bad treatment of the sea.
Also the animals that live in the sea are for everyone, at least before they are taken by somebody. Unfortunately the sensibility of fishermen is not always better than that of the ship owners. Many fishermen work to maximise the catch in every possible moment and, as a result, the stock of fish is decreasing dangerously.
The various periods of fishing bans used by the authorities for biological purposes last in general, a few weeks and are no less than a joke. Many fishermen, in fact, call them a subsidy.
Obviously the problem of the regulation of fish is very complex and there are no easy solutions, but one thing is sure, the periods of no fishing which really help the fish of the Mediterranean, are those brought about by the weather and not for biological reasons!