UDINE. They will monitor all the coasts of Friuli Venezia Giulia, from Muggia to the mouth of the Tagliamento, both by monitoring the activity at sea from the operating rooms of Trieste, Monfalcone, Grado and Lignano Sabbiadoro, and by going out to sea aboard a dozen boats. These are the fifty soldiers to whom the Trieste Maritime Directorate, which coordinates the activities of the Port Authorities of Trieste and Monfalcone, has entrusted the direction of the 2021 edition of the “Safe Sea” operation which will officially start on Saturday 19 June.
This is the activity that, on a national level, has seen the Coast Guard alongside citizens and tourists who choose the Italian coasts and seas for their holidays for over thirty years.
Rear Admiral Vincenzo Vitale, Friuli Venezia Giulia’s maritime director and commander of the Port of Trieste, presented the “Safe Sea” program – which will end in the region in three months, exactly on 19 September – during a meeting organized in Duino.
“The objective of Mare Sure – specified Vitale – is to guarantee the orderly and safe performance of nautical and seaside activities along the entire coast of Friuli Venezia Giulia, in order to safeguard human life at sea and prevent imprudent behavior. and dangerous “.
Drawing inspiration from the data collected during the summer of 2020, in particular from the situations in which it was necessary to rescue boaters and swimmers, it emerged that most of the emergencies at sea are related to foreseeable and avoidable dangerous situations, such as engine failures. and adverse marine weather conditions.
Precisely in this perspective, an ad hoc directive was issued in recent days by the ministry to rationalize the safety checks on pleasure craft for the year 2021.
We are talking about the campaign better known as the “Blue Stamp”, an activity that has been structured for years, which will allow boaters to experience the sea more peacefully, avoiding duplication of checks on navigation safety.
The “Safe Sea” operation is divided into various fields: it will be a question of guaranteeing safety to swimmers, also with reference to recreational navigation in areas reserved for bathing, to those who practice underwater sports, to those who practice bottom swimming activities, perhaps exceeding the limits of the band reserved for bathing, but also to ensure compliance with the regulations concerning the sector of fish resources and those guaranteeing the maritime state property and the marine environment in general.
A complex of actions, which will take place at sea, along the coasts, but also on the mainland.
“At the request of the Prefecture of Udine – underlined the captain of Fregata, Giovanni Nicosia, commander of the Port Authority of Monfalcone, which has jurisdiction from the mouths of the Timavo to those of the Tagliamento – we have been included, as Coast Guard, in the public order aimed at preventing Covid contagion, as regards the Lignano Sabbiadoro area.
Therefore – he added – we will also be able to sanction those who do not respect the obligation to use the mask or the discipline on the distancing between people. Finally, I remember – continued Nicosia – that we also have competence with regard to the protection of the fish resource, so we can carry out checks in fish restaurants.
This activity – he concluded – takes place throughout the year, but necessarily intensifies during the summer ».
The Port Authority of Trieste and the Municipality of Duino Aurisina also signed an agreement, lasting three years, which provides for particular controls on the coastal strip that falls under the jurisdiction of the administration headed by Daniela Pallotta. It was signed by the first citizen and Rear Admiral Vincenzo Vitale.
“Ours is a beautiful territory – underlined Pallotta – and for this reason it must be adequately protected”.