10/09/2026
Avoid paying $30,000 fine on the Croatian coast…
If you love diving and are fortunate enough to spot a noble pen shell (Pinna nobilis) on the bottom of the sea – do not touch it. Leave it there, leave it alive.
A friend of mine spotted tourists around Zadar area scooping out a beautiful specimen of the noble pen shell. She immediately alerted the police… And this is why.
This wonderful shell is in grave danger of being totally extinct.
Some recent research in Croatia shows that there is merely 17 noble pen shells remaining in the Adriatic Sea, along the Croatian coast.
Its numbers in the entire Mediterranean have started decreasing rapidly around 2016. This is due to a disease and uncontrolled overfishing and collecting.
Pinna nobilis has been classified as a species of Community Interest in need of strict protection by the European Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) and as an Endangered Species by the Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Areas and Biological Diversity in the Mediterranean from the Barcelona Convention (Annex II).
📸 by Expat in Croatia
