For the fifth time, ATRAC brought together the County Operations Centres (COCs) of Coastal counties and the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure at the Coordination of COCs. This year’s Coordination was held in cooperation with the Split – Dalmatia County in the city of Hvar from 23 to 24 April 2024. The representatives of the COCs of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar, Lika-Senj, Zadar, Sibenik-Knin, Split-Dalmatia, and Dubrovnik-Neretva counties were present. The coordination, like the previous three, was supported by the Ministry of the Sea, Transport, and Infrastructure with the active participation of representatives of the Maritime Safety Directorate.

This coordination was opened with introductory words from ATRAC’s director and from Matea Dorčić, Head of the Administrative Department for Tourism, Maritime Affairs and Transport of Split-Dalmatia County, after which the COCs representatives presented their experiences from previous years. Split-Dalmatia County had the most cases od accidental marine pollution which were successfully dealt with through correct means of response. The other Counties had no significant cases of pollution, so they shared their activities and future plans of improving their preparedness. A representative of  the Ministry of the Sea, Transport, and Infrastructure shared the advancements of a Sub-regional Contingency plan for the Adriatic sea, upcoming EU projects, as well as planned purchase of specialized accidental marine pollution response equipment. ATRAC’s presentations on the importance of education and the growing importance of microplastics brought the first day of Coordination to an end. On the second day of Coordination, the Split-Dalmatia County organized an excursion to the Paklin Islands.  Just like in previous years, the goals of this Coordination were successfully met.