Hook, line and clinker: fisherman uses concrete statues to save the sea bed

Sculptures scattered on the sea bed off the coast of Tuscany are preserving natural habitats and protecting flora and fauna from trawlers' nets

Transcript

00:00 The fisherman's quick hands and sunburned face conceal the strong and noble soul of

00:07 an environmental activist and an art lover.

00:10 Paolo the fisherman, as everyone in Tuscany's Morema area knows him, has been fighting against

00:15 trawler fishing for almost 40 years.

00:18 This type of fishing is illegal within three nautical miles of the coast and in protected

00:23 marine reserves.

00:24 Paolo's been fighting against the interests of big industry and the infiltrations of organised

00:29 crime.

00:30 For many years, nothing has changed.

00:33 Where there are protected marine reserves, like Giannutri, Monte Cristo, Isola d'Elba,

00:38 Capraia, Pianosa, at night there are boats that turn off the IS with chains that completely

00:45 destroy the bottom.

00:46 It's time for politics to come to the fore.

00:50 Trawler fishing in coastal waters destroys the Poseidonia, a marine plant providing the

00:55 sea with oxygen and it devastates the entire marine ecosystem with the disappearance of

01:01 fish and the whole sea life cycle.

01:04 Through his association, the House of Fish, Paolo the fisherman managed to involve entrepreneurs

01:09 and artists in the creation of a submerged museum where the beauty of the statues laid

01:14 on the seabed is actually preventing the trawler fishing and repopulating the sea.

01:20 The struggle of Paolo the fisherman continues with the same determination of 40 years ago.

01:25 He has experienced loneliness and discomfort, but also the support of many people and international

01:30 environmentalist associations.

01:31 Now his project goes on.

01:34 He does not intend to stop because the sea is a good of all and is fundamental for our

01:40 survival.

01:41 The sea is my life and this gave me a great emotion when that light came on inside me

01:49 and I felt the power of art in the sea.

01:52 Because if I had said I would continue to put blocks of cement in the sea, now you wouldn't

01:57 be here.

01:58 Nobody would have listened to me.

02:04 Where there were only concrete blocks before, now there are 44 statues from famous artists,

02:10 among them the British sculptress Emily Young.

02:13 They're protecting the seabed from trawler fishing.

02:16 Paolo wants to get to 100 and you can bet he'll make it.

02:19 [BLANK_AUDIO]