The mayor of Mazara del Vallo, Salvatore Quinci, urged the Italian government to find solutions to fishing activities in the Mediterranean with the Libyan government after a Sicilian fisherman was allegedly shot after a Libyan Coast Guard's patrol allegedly opened fire on three Italian fishing boats off Misrata-Al-Khums shores.

Quinci said there should be a solution to this issue with Libya before someone gets killed, adding that he is sure that sooner or later, someone is going to get killed.

There is no fishing agreement between Libya and Italy. The latest incident was when Sicilian fishermen were detained in Benghazi and then released after several months.

Meanwhile, Libya’s coastguards issued a statement Sunday saying one of the Italian fishermen was injured because he had hit the window of the vessel that was under inspection in the presence of an Italian Miki frigate, denying the story of a fisherman being shot by warning fire as Italian media reported.

The Libyan coastguards warned foreign vessels against fishing in Libyan waters as it would be a violation of sovereignty, saying this activity has been done before by Italian vessels and the acts are documented at the Libyan Navy archive.