He was surprised by the Foresters in the locality of "Su Zinnipiri", in Cabras, in the Protected Marine Area of Sinis - Mal di Ventre Island, while he emerged from the water dragging a tile containing freshly caught sea urchins to the shoreline.

The perpetrator of the act, after the seizure of the fish - immediately released into the sea - and of all the fishing equipment, was thus denounced for violation of the rules for the protection of protected areas, parks and marine areas.

The offender risks arrest for up to six months or a fine of up to € 12,900.

The violation takes on particular importance as since 2020 the sea urchin fishing in the Sinis marine protected area has been totally forbidden and also forbidden to professional fishermen to whom a special authorization was issued in previous years, subject to stringent controls on the number of specimens taken.

As underlined by the Regional Council in the relative resolution of 28.12.2021, the growing commercial interest for the species "has determined in the last decade a massive withdrawal from the resource and a consequent decline in stocks. Scientific monitoring has recently highlighted a state of severe suffering. of the species in many areas of the territorial sea of Sardinia, with a condition of over-exploitation which, if perpetrated, could determine in the short term the collapse of the resource and the commercial extinction of the species ".

This is the reason why the regional law 17 of last year (dated November 22, 2021) provides for the blocking of the collection, collection, possession, transport, unloading and marketing of sea urchin specimens and fresh derivative products for a period of three years. from 22 January next.

The fight against the illegal collection of this species is therefore important for the balance of the ecosystem throughout the territorial sea and even more so in protected areas.

(Unioneonline / vl)