Goodbye to the Forest Service’s sea inspections. That leaves four others who are not talking to each other

One piece of good news, there is one less state body to carry out inspections at sea for this year. The Forestry Corps, which incredibly used to carry out checks at sea with its means in some marine reserves(see the famous case of the 344 euro fine in Giannutri taken by an experienced sailor)no longer exists, is being absorbed by the Carabinieri Corps. This is stipulated in the legislative decree “for the rationalization of police functions.”

There is another provision in the decree that affects boaters; a single emergency number is established, which will be 112.

The rationalization of controls at sea by the Police Corps, which, let us remind you, are as many as five: Coast Guard, Police, Carabinieri, Guardia Di Finanza and, until now, Forestry Corps, is one of the hot spots for improving the lives of boaters in Italian waters.

In fact, despite urging them to coordinate with each other, even today they each operate independently which means you could be stopped on the same day by 5 different state actors.
The Verna affair in Giannutri had sparked a heated debate, below are cases of harassment at sea that are nothing short of incredible. If you have a negative as well as positive experience of your own, please post a comment below.

Parks: Ecology or extortion?
Misadventures and fines like those in Giannutri are unfortunately common in Italy. When I have to navigate areas close to protected areas, despite my good will I am always uncertain about the congruity of my course with the cryptic and changing regulations of some parks. I want to point out a black pearl: the “Kingdom of Neptune,” which has taken over the waters of the islands of Ischia and Procida, making them virtually unavailable to free boating. On the Internet one can consult the regulations, which are practically untenable and in fact not nrespected by the mass of boaters mostly unaware of so many (strictly unmarked) prohibitions. Here this year at the end of July I wanted to get regular permission to anchor for one night in Procida. After many phone calls, the secretary of the park authority asked me to submit formal reasoned application via fax, I would receive a reply shortly….
Having now arrived in Procida and having no fax machine on board I had to insist; after more phone calls and an afternoon phone appointment (to speak with the manager) I obtained a list of “conventioned” restaurants. By landing at their tables, having lunch and paying the relevant bill, it becomes permissible to stay at anchor in the bay, ready to show the bill to anyone: harbormaster, Guardia di Finanza, Carabinieri, etc., who had boarded the boat for checks. By the way, this procedure is neither official nor formalized, but in fact generally accepted except in the case of more demanding officials, in which case it will be necessary to redial the perco for clarification… Tired, at dusk I gave in, went ashore at Corricella and had a decent lunch by the sea. Perhaps under other conditions I would still have chosen that same restaurant but, under duress the fish left me with a bitter aftertaste. Ecology or ….?
comment by: Gm Orengo

Parks don’t do serious inspections
They doinspections just to make money; serious ones, charged to the motorists who make the parks unlivable, they don’t do them. In Magdalena there is a speed limit to navigate the park allowing it to be enjoyed. All summer I have not seen a motorist comply with it, and during a paid fee check the wave of people passing by makes the attendants risk affonfare, but they only check the ticket. Is he serious? A, yeah, those people are allowed everything because they pay so much. And then to those guys the mere urging to abide by the rules unnerves them. The mere act of slowing down rarely prucures indifference, very often swearing and sending f.i.c. Is this the spirit of parks? then let’s abolish them all.
comment by: Giuseppe Damato

Enemy state
In 1996 ,freshly licensed,a similar thing happened to me,in the same area,with the aggravating circumstance that I was sailing with a motor and mainsail at 2 knots and ” fishing with a 4 cm. feather for sea bream,at a distance from land of about 1/2 mile .I was charged with a criminal offense for illegal fishing ( I had not caught anything),and motor boating (2 knots with EB 20 hp).The penalty included a fine of 50,000.000 lire and arrest for 3 years,at which point I laughed to keep from crying and replied to the guard,while passing barges full of divers with “authorized” scuba divers what would happen to me if on leaving jail I had a car collision,accidental or intentional,with him in that of port Hercules and had suffered serious injuries Surely a derisory fine and perhaps the loss of 2-3 points from my license.Penalties at sea are enshrined in the penal code ,Absurd!!! and there is a will to discourage boating with absurd and misinterpreted laws .Lawmakers are all motorists but certainly not sailors .Long live France!!! Fortunately common sense prevailed but I saw it ugly !
comment by: Vinicio

Of the protected area around Giannutri everyone doesn’t give a damn!
That it is a strawman, albeit a costly one for the few who run into the mesh of law enforcement, we all realize. I would like to relate an incident that happened to me at the 2009 Rome-Giannutri regatta. During the shipowners’ briefing we are told that there will be a pressing control by the St. Stephen’s harbor master’s office on the “smart ones” who cut into protected areas: disqualification and fines for the dishonest ones.The regatta in fact uses the island of Giannutri, including protected areas, as its halfway mark. On the chart I mark all the extremes of these areas and, as I sail west of the island “brushing” the prohibited area, a huge “iron” passes me at about ten meters giving me no water and entering perpendicular to the protected area at a speed of 12 knots. I get a beastly nervous, to his misfortune I possess AIS and therefore can know the name of the recreational vessel, its position, speed, course, etc. Communicating this data by radio could have been dangerous, so I call with my cell phone 1530 and get the St. Stephen’s harbor master’s office to whom I report the incident, whoever answers me, however, seems very uninterested. Still, I hope I have played a bad trick on him and continue my regatta. On the return route, passing between Giannutri and the Argentario promontory, always keeping to the edge of the open waters I see a merchant ship quietly passing a mile inside the prohibited area! Now I understand why the harbor master’s office in Santo stefano didn’t pay much attention to me: if a merchant ship doesn’t comply with the ban let alone pleasure craft!
comment by: Pier Mario Bozzuffi