Croatia

Some activities have even already begun, with sites on the Serbo-Croat border already harbouring various passing samplers. Earlier this month, passive samplers were already deployed in the Croatian towns of Batina and Ilok on the banks of the Danube River. Here’s a brief report from the team responsible for setting up the sampling site.

“Despite the horrible weather conditions, we had a very successful day and managed to do what we intended.

The first site was Batina. We deployed the sampler on the first bridge pillar on the Croatian side. The Danube boat crew that was waiting for us in Batina was a big surprise! The crew was very helpful, they even served us coffee onboard and let us do the sampler preparation in the crew cabin. 

The second site was Ilok. There we did not dare to deploy directly on the bridge pillar, but used the last pillar on the pier cca 50 m downstream the bridge. The sampler should not present any obstacle to ships, since it is only attached by a loose long rope downstream the last pillar on the pier and is well marked by the orange buoy. The deployment is done so no-one from the shore can interfere with it, unless they use a motor boat.

We crossed the border to Serbia, managed to sort the ATA carnet formalities and now are staying overnight in Backi Petrovac.

It is raining cats and dogs.”