(ZAGREB) - Croatia's coast guard on Thursday intercepted an Italian trawler suspected of illegally fishing in its Adriatic Sea waters, police said.

A police spokeswoman told AFP the trawler was noticed early Thursday and had been escorted to the southern island of Vis. She gave no details on the boat or crew.

The boat was being inspected and the crew were to appear before a Vis court and probably fined, spokeswoman Zeljka Radosevic said.

The boat was intercepted only two days after Zagreb implemented an ecological and fishing protection zone in the Adriatic. The zone is opposed by the European Union, which the Balkan country would like to join.

The Italian boat was not intercepted in the zone but in Croatia's territorial waters, police said.

The Croatian parliament proclaimed the 23,800 square kilometer (9,520 square mile) zone in 2003. The aim was to protect Adriatic Sea fishing stocks which Zagreb says are being depleted by Italy's larger fishing fleet.

However, in 2004 Croatia agreed exemptions for EU countries -- notably its neighbors Italy and Slovenia -- until a fishing accord is finalized with the EU.

Italy and Slovenia have now proclaimed their own ecological zones.

The EU warned Croatia at the weekend that its refusal to open up its zone to all member states would lead to "negative" consequences.

Environmental activists voiced concerns that Zagreb might give in to pressure.

"Without public pressure the government will give up the zone in the interest of EU accession talks," said Tonci Tadic, an official with the Eko-Kvarner NGO.

Italy's annual catch is some 200,000 tonnes compared with Croatia's 20,000 tonnes and Slovenia's 2,000, according to Croatian figures which put the cost to Zagreb of the Italian fishing alone at up to 300 million euros (430 million dollars) each year.

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