If the leaders of Ulcinj in the XNUMXs and XNUMXs had a clearer vision of the development of the city in the near future and accepted the ideas served on the table, Port Milena would not be an open septic tank today, while the wars of the XNUMXs "eaten" ambitious projects for Šaško Lake and cage farming fish in Valdanos.
This is confirmed by documents and minutes from that time from meetings attended by academics and experts from Belgrade and Italy, recognized ichthyologists, ecologists...
"There was little will and too much arrogance. After the earthquake, Ulcinj had the money to put all these ideas into action, not once but five times, but there was always something more pressing to do," said Dželal Hodžić, an ecologist from Ulcinj, for "Vijesti".
At a meeting in Ulcinj in February 1981, Dr Draga Janković from the Belgrade Institute "Ruđer Bošković" and MSc Stjepčević from the Institute of Biology emphasized the need to examine the phenomenon of spawning of young eels in Port Milena and Kneta and the possibility of using natural advantages in this sense.
"It shows how powerful a resource Port Milena was at that time, a real tourist gem," remembers Hodžić, who says he attended the meeting.
The aim of the research, it was emphasized at the time, would be to study ichthyological problems in those areas. It was concluded that the then Agropogon, Institute of Sea Oceanography from Kotor and Solana "Bajo Sekulić" should be equal bearers of the research project. It was especially emphasized that the project should be implemented gradually and without large investments.
"It was established that there is a possibility of a closed experimental system, like the German patent, which is realized in a small space with a high density and a high yield. Such a system is possible throughout the year and can be combined with open systems. In this way, large quantities of juveniles can be reared in the earlier stages", it is written in the minutes of the meeting, which was also attended by Dr Karman, MSc Knežević, ichthyologist Jovanović, Hodžić and Ramuš Gorana from Agrpogon and Veselin Đurović and Daut Molabećirović from Ulcinj Municipality.
At the meeting, it was concluded that it is necessary as soon as possible, within ten days at the latest, to complete a project task, that is, a research report that would be used to apply to the Republic Community for Scientific Activity.
Hodžić remembers that everything ended there because the Municipality and Solana quickly gave up on the project.
"At the time, the Municipality said that because of the earthquake they had more priority problems, and in Solana they were arrogant. They had both, it could have been for them. Agriculture and projects like this were the last hole in their pipe", recalls Hodžić, how the brilliant idea, by the will of the municipal authorities, ended up in the archive.
Port Milena - ecological bomb
Only two and a half decades later, Port Milena will become an ecological bomb, spreading stench and infection. Exotic motifs from postcards, dominated by unique calimers and crystal clear water, have been replaced by fecal sludge, with dead plant and animal life, with no prospect of anything major changing in the near future.
Some ideas and projects disappeared in the vortex of brutal wars at the beginning of the nineties of the last century.
Thus, in the protocol made on April 10, 1990, the implementation of which never even began, the subject was the preparation and implementation of the project for breeding, catching and marketing of aquatic cultures. The signatories of the protocol were Dr. Vinćenco Polaci from COIPA from Rome, the director of Ulcinj Agropogon Gojko Popović, representative of Montenegroturist from Budva Božidar Popović, and Slobodan Šarenac from the Yugoslav Institute for Productivity, Research and Development from Belgrade.
In the protocol, it was jointly assessed that the priority phase of cooperation is the cultivation and catching of fish on Lake Šaš.
"Eel farming is exclusively export oriented, while carp and grasshopper farming is domestic market oriented, for the needs of Agropogon's customers. An integral part of the cooperation project is the capacity of the fishing fleet, which would be provided by the Italian partner, including in the joint system the domestic capacity of the cooperating fishers", says the protocol, which was frozen by the "war for peace", but also by subsequent war events in the countries of the region.
Agropogon, once a model company in the Greater Yugoslavia, ceased to exist five years later.
The contract from 1990 on the financing of the project "Intensive cage fish farming in the coastal zone of Ulcinj" suffered the same fate as the protocol. The Republican Secretariat for Development then set aside 100 thousand dinars for this purpose.
"I think the location for cage farming was planned in Valdanos, on the left side towards the lighthouse. That side is exposed only to the mistral and western, which is ideal for cage breeding. In addition, the sea is always impeccably clean there," says Hodžić.
The tunnel with the elevator under the Old Town was also ignored
Hodžić says that he remembers that the now-deceased engineer Lazar Ban, in the eighties of the last century, wanted to create a tunnel project under the Old Town, which would lead from the place where the "Big Ben" bar is now to the road to Liman.
"The tunnel was supposed to be about 150 meters long, and Ban planned to build an elevator somewhere in the middle. And they ignored that," he says.
Ponds in Špatula with a capacity of up to 350 tons per year
Agropogon's request for a proposal for the development of a project for ponds in the Špatula area, in the hinterland of Velika plaža, submitted to the Institute for Marine Biology and Oceanography in Kotor in March 1981, remained unfulfilled.
At the time, Agropogon claimed that the capacity of the pond at that location could reach 1985 tons per year by 350. The amount of investment for that project ranged between four and five billion old dinars.
Hodžić remembers that he often went fishing in Špatul with his father.
"There was plenty of fish, especially eels and very large ones. The lake was then connected to Bojan. I haven't been there for a long time, but I hear that one part is buried now".
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