Popović filled the sea to a depth of nine meters?

The Navigation Safety Inspection of the Port Authority of Kotor officially informed the Maritime Safety Administration of Montenegro that it is necessary to correct the maritime charts of the Bay of Kotor, that is, to inform all participants in navigation via the BARRADIJA radio announcement that the coastline in Baošići has been drastically changed and that its current condition does not correspond to what is drawn on the maritime charts of this part of the Montenegrin waters.

According to unofficial information, the inspection found that the company "Carine", which, with the consent of the Public Company for the Management of the Coastal Zone, the Municipality of Herceg Novi and the tacit approval of the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property, is devastating the coast in this part of the bay under the guise of a long-term contract with the Coastal Zone for the "investment construction of a bathing area", has filled the sea in front of cadastral plots 771, 772, 773 and 774 of the Baošići administrative district to an isobath (a line that marks the depth of the sea on maps) of as much as nine meters.

The Navigation Safety Inspectorate has officially informed the Maritime Safety Administration that due to the new situation in Baošići, it is necessary to correct the current "List of Lighthouses and Coastal Marine Lights of the Coast of Montenegro" and delete the Baošići coastal marine light from it, because it has completely lost its previous function in coastal terrestrial navigation due to the drastic filling of the coast and the filling of the mandrač on which it was installed.

Navigation safety inspector, captain Mrs. Dudić, informed the competent authorities of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs that due to the drastic change of the coastline and the implementation of construction works on the coast in violation of the provisions of the current Law on Navigation Safety, i.e. without the prior consent of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and the Port Authority, misdemeanor proceedings should be initiated against the investors and contractors of these works. At the same time, Dudić pointed out to the leadership of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs that what happened in the past ten days in Baošići also has the characteristics of a criminal act of illegal occupation of land, i.e. water area, and that the state should also take adequate measures in this direction against those responsible for the devastation of the coast and sea in this part of the Bay of Boka Kotorska.

The company "Carine" from Podgorica, a businessman Ceda Popovic which is building a large hotel in Baošići and filling the beach in front of it, has completely buried the old stone Baošići mandrać, which is a recognizable object of local cultural and architectural heritage.

Popović's company has been rapidly filling the sea in front of the construction site of its future hotel for days, despite the fact that the Cultural Heritage Protection Administration has prohibited it from continuing with this work and ordered it to return the coast to its original condition.

The permit for filling up as much as 12.500 square meters of sea in Baošići was issued by the Municipality of Herceg Novi, and the Environmental Protection Agency of Montenegro assessed that it was not necessary to prepare an Environmental Impact Assessment Study for this project.

Despite the explicit order of the Administration for the Protection of Cultural Heritage to stop the sea filling in Baošići and restore the coast to its original state, the state of Montenegro has so far been unable or unwilling to physically prevent the "Carina" company from continuing to devastate the waters and coast.

President of the National Commission for UNESCO and Prime Minister Milojko Spajic He ordered the Administration for the Protection of Cultural Heritage to file criminal charges for the works in Baošići, and then, as he said, the conclusion on investment beaches, which enabled investment on the coast in Baošići, will be annulled at one of the Government sessions.

The Environmental Protection Agency did not respond to a set of questions from "Vijesti" regarding this case for three days.

An agency headed by a director Milan Gazdić We asked who specifically, on behalf of that state body, processed and issued Decision No. 03-UPI-4238/11 on December 31, 2025, which determined that an environmental impact assessment study was not required for the "development of a partially developed bathing area on cadastral plots No. 771, 772, 773/1 and 774, all in the Baošići administrative district in the Herceg Novi municipality."

"How is it possible for the Agency's experts to come to such a decision, given the scope of the planned works on the "development" of this beach, which involve filling in 12.500 square meters of sea, and that the Agency believes that a radical intervention in an area of ​​this size in the most sensitive zone of the marine ecosystem (coastal area) will not negatively affect the environment, to the extent that the Agency concludes that it is not necessary to prepare a study on the impact assessment of the implementation of this project? Do you believe that due to the above and everything that has happened in the meantime at the location in Baošići, where an environmental crime is being committed, someone in the Environmental Protection Agency should be dismissed, fired and possibly criminally prosecuted for negligent performance of duties?" are questions to which, among others, "Vijesti" did not receive answers from the Environmental Protection Agency.

"Hands tied" due to the nature protection law

Unofficially, the Environmental Protection Agency told us that their hands are formally and legally tied in this case due to the flawed solutions in the Nature Protection Law, namely the exceptionally poor current "Regulation on Projects Subject to Environmental Impact Assessment", which does not at all imply the obligation to prepare an environmental impact assessment of various coastal fillings and beach expansions.

That is why, for the past 10 years, the Agency has practically "turned a blind eye" to the ecologically extremely harmful and widespread phenomenon of "seasonal beach nourishment" in Boka Bay with thousands of cubic meters of sand and gravel from various quarries, which is carried out in an organized manner by the Coastal Administration and individual beach tenants.

However, in List II of the current regulation, which exhaustively lists "projects for which an environmental impact assessment may be required", in point 12, which lists such infrastructure projects, among other things, it also lists "activities in the marine environment that may have an impact on the marine ecosystem, coastal works to combat erosion and works on the sea coast that change the appearance of the coast through construction - embankments, piers, port embankments and other defensive structures, excluding activities for the maintenance and reconstruction of such structures".

Additionally, point 15 states that the preparation of an impact assessment study may be required for “all projects listed in List II in a protected natural asset and in the protected environment of an immovable cultural asset”.

Bearing this in mind, it is clear that the Environmental Protection Agency of Montenegro, if it wanted to act responsibly and with professional integrity in the Baošići - Carine affair, had a very clear legal basis to request the preparation of a report on the environmental impact assessment of filling with earth and stone as many as 12.500 square meters of sea in the protective, or buffer zone, of the Bay of Kotor, as an official area of ​​world natural and cultural heritage under the protection of UNESCO.