FAMOUS CROATS, Petar Lorini

Petar Lorini (Sali, 1850 – Belgrade, 1921) was a prominent Croatian expert in marine fisheries and one of the founders of modern fishing on the eastern Adriatic. He completed Teacher Training School in Dubrovnik and a teaching course in Zadar, after which he worked in Korčula and Kotor. In 1873, he was appointed headmaster of the Public School in Sali, where that same year he introduced the Croatian language into teaching and municipal administration. He also introduced four-year schooling, which he opened to girls in 1885. In addition, he established and managed a post office. Lorini served as a commissioner of Matica hrvatska and contributed to the Croatian Encyclopedia (Osijek, 1887–1890). Alongside his work in education and municipal administration, he taught local fishermen and farmers viticulture and olive cultivation, and organized evening courses for adults on fisheries, agriculture, livestock breeding, beekeeping, sericulture, science and language, attended by around a hundred participants. Lorini published professional articles in journals such as Zora, Smotra dalmatinska, Narodni list, Zadrugar and Gospodarski list, following global developments thanks to his knowledge of German, Italian and French. His exhibit Salted Fish received an award in Vienna in 1890 and the Grand Medal with Diploma at the Economic and Forestry Exhibition in Zagreb in 1891. After his service in Sali, he became a teacher at the Teacher Training School in Zadar in 1893. As a fisheries expert, he was appointed in 1897 as fisheries inspector for Dalmatia, the Austrian Littoral, Trieste and Istria within the Maritime Government in Trieste. His ideas and innovations were presented in the book Fishing and Fishing Gear on the Eastern Adriatic Coast, which received a silver state medal at the International Fisheries Exhibition in Vienna in 1902 (while still in manuscript) and was published in 1903. It was the first Croatian book of its kind and served as a textbook in maritime schools. In it, he wrote his well-known thought: “The sea is a God-given field, which needs neither digging nor plowing nor sowing, but only wise harvesting.” Lorini collaborated with Ivan Dellaitti to develop the first acetylene fishing lamp and later developed petroleum-based lighting, replacing wood. He also contributed to the construction of a fish processing factory in Sali (1905–1907), which significantly stimulated the development of the entire Dugi Otok area. In Sali, he conducted experiments in open-sea sardine fishing using a purse seine net of his own design, for which he received an honorary diploma in Koper in 1910. On the centenary of his birth, a memorial plaque was placed on the house where he was born in Sali, the eastern quay of the town was named after him, and a bust by local sculptor Ante Orlić was installed in front of the school that has borne his name since 1973. Dr. Perica Cetinić of the Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries in Split wrote that Lorini “made a significant contribution to the development and advancement of Croatian marine fisheries and can therefore rightly be considered the founder of modern Croatian marine fisheries.” Mauricij Frka Petešić