The zone has an area of 23,870 square kilometres . The exact boundaries of the zone date back to treaties between what was then SFR Yugoslavia and Italy in 1968 and between Croatia and FR Yugoslavia in 2001 . Prior to ZERP 's declaration , Italian ships annually caught 300 million euros worth of fish from the zone - ten times the amount which Croatian ships caught . In its enactment of the zone , the Croatian Government also cited the danger of the Prestige oil spill being repeated on the Croatian Adriatic , which would seriously affect the country 's tourism industry
Prestige oil spill
Prestige oil spill
Ecological and Fisheries Protection Zone