Official Spanish fisheries charts avoid disputed Gibraltar waters

GIBRALTAR If anything comes close to making clear that this whole thing about Gibraltar is nothing more than a political smoke scree, today's article by Brian Reyes in The Gibraltar Chronicle certainly does. Titled 'Spanish fisheries chart steers clear of British Waters', the first paragraph says: 'A screen shot of the Junta de Andalucia website showing Spanish designated shellfish fisheries near Gibraltar in red and green. None of them overlap into British Gibraltar territorial waters. The artificial reef at the heart of the current dispute with Spain is outside the nearest fishery, known in Spanish as a ‘caladero’. Under Spanish law, commercial fishing can only be conducted in such areas.' Read on.

Spain wants to 'harden' sanctions against bunkering in the bay; Minister's connections with the practice

Bunkering in the bay

GIBRALTAR Bunkering, the supply of fuel to ships at sea, is one of Gibraltar's most lucrative marine services. A couple of days ago, the Spanish Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, Miguel Arias Cañete, announced that Spain was looking into creating sanctions against the practice under present tensions about fishing and territorial waters and warships headed for the Rock. An article dated February 2, 2012, in Europa Sur, said that 32.3% of all bunkering carried out for Spanish ports in 2011 happened in the Bay of Algeciras (a.k.a. Bay of Gibraltar). More recently, it was announced that several Spanish companies had bid for bunkering services through the Algeciras Port Authority - that is, not via Gibraltar, but offering the same services. One of these companies>>>

Video evidence of Guardia firing shots in disputed waters (by GBC)

'Spanish Armada acts in Spanish waters'

The Vencedora near Gibraltar

Ministry denies existence of incidents with the Vencedora, which is only on 'routine operations'

MADRID (Agencies) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation has once more defended its naval activity in the 'Spanish waters' surrounding Gibraltar, against accusations by the Picardo Government on the Rock, which has denounced 'incursions' of armed shipping and Customs vessels, which it considers a 'frontal challenge' and an 'intolerable affront on British sovereignty', according to Spanish media. The Spanish ministry says in a communiqué that it has no news of any incident and that the Armada (the name for the Spanish navy) is only carrying out routine manouvres in 'Spanish waters'. These so-called 'incursions' have increased in the past couple of weeks and the respective ambassadors of Spain and Britain have been called in to hear formal diplomatic complaints about the matter. In the meantime, the group calling itself Defenders of Gibraltar has raised some 8,000 signatures to demand that the Governor, Sir Adrian Jones, act against these 'incursions' by Spain into what it, and Gibraltar and Britain, say are its territorial waters.

Gibraltar: Continuing maritime incursions by Spanish state agencies are intolerable

Vencedora near Gibraltar
(Photo: chronicle.gi)

Warning that 'maritime assets' are available to RGP · Defence of Gib integrity is UK responsibility

GIBRALTAR Government press release of 13/11/12 in full: The Government considers that the continuing incursions by vessels of the Spanish navy and other agencies of the Spanish state into the territorial waters of Gibraltar are totally unacceptable. This follows incursions by both the Spanish navy and the Spanish SVA today. The incursions follow a general pattern which has been established over the last few years where the Spanish agencies pretend to behave as if  British Gibraltar Territorial Waters (BGTW) did not exist and as if the waters around Gibraltar belong to Spain. These incursions constitute a frontal challenge and an affront to British sovereignty and are intolerable.>>>

Fishing licences report is near completion

Another kind of fishing
(Photo: Jon Rawlinson)

GIBRALTAR Sources at Nº6 Convent Place say that the final report on the fishing rights issue is due for completion and presentation 'imminently'. The report will be welcomed by many, anglers and commercial fishing enterprises alike. It is widely believed that the report will contain the following measures to protect fishing stocks in the waters claimed by both Gibraltar and Spain. For this purpose a licensing regime is to be introduced, stipulating the precise sections of the waters and the times and conditions under which they may be fished. It is also believed that Spanish and other foreign fishermen will be allowed to fish specified species on specified days, but only when in possession of  a Gibraltar licence. It is expected that the long-running fishing dispute with Spain may be at an end, although there is a hard-line opinion  that since the waters do not belong to Gibraltar but to Spain, no licence is required. Watch this space.

Minister asked about his connections with bunkering firm

Miguel Arias Cañete
Minister of Agriculture, Food and
Environment

Arias Cañete resigned a month after becoming minister

MADRID (Agencies) The Opposition in Parliament is requesting the presence of Miguel Arias Cañete, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Environment, to explain his connection to a bunkering firm because, if it is confirmed, it would be a 'very serious conflict of interest', according to a PSOE spokesperson. The Gibraltar Chronicle says that the matter has drawn political attention after Foreign Minister Jose Garcia Margallo’s remarks last week that the Spanish Government would regulate bunkering activities and implement other environmental protection measures in its EU approved nature protection (SCI) site in local waters, itself the subject of a diplomatic row and legal challenge by Britain and Gibraltar in Europe.

Picardo: 'Gibraltar will never be Spanish!"

(Photo: europasur.es / F.Guerrero)

GIBRALTAR (Panorama) At yesterday's National Day rally in Gibraltar, the Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said that Gibraltar will never be Spanish. After six British Members of Parliament had spoken supporting Gibraltar and its people in their problems with Spain, Mr Picardo said: "This is our land, our home, our Rock. We are here to assert that we have the right to self-determination. No 300-year old treaty or threats (from Spain) will ever intimidate us. We will never concede one grain of sand, one breath of our air or one drop of our waters. Gibraltar will never be Spanish." Referring to the ongoing fishing dispute with Spain, one of the speakers, Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell, said: "I say to the British Government, the next time a Spanish vessel enters Gibraltar waters, that vessel should be apprehended and its crew arrested."

RGP harasses three Algeciras fishing boats

Fishing in disputed waters

Guardia Civil patrol boats rush to protect them

GIBRALTAR The above is a translation of the main headline in today's Europa Sur. The story says that the incident happened at about 10pm last night, when the three boats were fishing with nets in the waters that are in ongoing dispute between Gibraltar and Spain. The newspaper reports that the fishing boats were approached by the Royal Gibraltar Police when the nets had been set, flicking lights making 'dangerous' manouvres close to them. Shortly afterwards, and alerted by the fishermen, a Guardia Civil patrol boat came to the area to protect. The Spanish boats left the area because the fish had been scared away. This is the first time an incident such as this has occurred with boats from Algeciras in several months, though there have been a number of similar ones with vessels from La Línea.

Spain rejects fishing summons 'validity'

Fishing in whose waters?

Fisherman told to decide on his court appearance

MADRID (Agencies) Francisco Gómez Elías received a court summons on Tuesday, handed to him on the water by the RGP, as we reported here. He handed the matter over to the president of his fishing fraternity, who in turn sought advice from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. The ministry issued a statement that says>>>PLEASE BE AWARE THAT IN THE NEAR FUTURE YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO READ THE COMPLETE ITEM UNLESS YOU HAVE SUBSCRIBED. Subscription information will be available soon.>>>

Spanish skipper charged on four counts

Receiving summons at sea
(Photo: chronicle.gi)

GIBRALTAR Tensions are getting higher in the dispute over fishing rights in the waters surrounding the Rock. The skipper of the Divina Providencia, Francisco Gómez, received was handed documents on Tuesday requiring him to appear at the courts in Gibraltar on September 21, as he was fishing for sardines in the disputed waters. But as they were in English, he was not clear about what he is being charged with. Speculation among the fishing fraternity is that if he does not present himself, he will be arrested after the court date, which would create a precedent regarding jurisdiction.  Another two boats were out fishing at the same time in the same area but they did not receive any court summons, according to sources.

Gibraltar and/or Spain's territorial waters around the Rock - a couple of comments brought to light

On the next-but-one original JimenaPulse (in turn, the origins of this here CampoPulse), we published an article on March 19, 2009 titled European Community: 'Gibraltar landfill OK'. It elicited several comments at the time, but we found two more that hadn't yet been edited or approved and that we only picked up recently, but that reflect the ongoing controversy about the Rock's and/or Spain's territorial waters. Below you will find these, with our (Prospero's) replies.>>>

Gibraltar Government statement following Guardia Civil actions on Friday

One of many incidents
(Photo: elmundo.es)

"...actions such as these [...] must be repelled by the Royal Navy ..." 

GIBRALTAR (Press release) "Her Majesty's Government of Gibraltar has received confirmed reports that officers of the Guardia Civil vessel Rio Ceden boarded and took control of a Gibraltar registered vessel in British Gibraltar Territorial Waters and then forcibily conveyed it and its occupants to Algeciras at high speed and without navigational lights. They subsequently confiscated perfectly legal equipment aboard the vessel.  The individuals aboard the vessel were not suspected of being involved in any illicit activity of any kind. HM Government of Gibraltar condemns the actions of the relevant Spanish Civil Guards without reservation.  Official reports received by the Government state that the Guardia Civil even turned off the navigational lights on the Gibraltar vessel that they boarded and on their own vessel as well in an attempt to avoid detection. This points to the fact that they must have known that they were acting in British Gibraltar Territorial Waters where Spain has no jurisdiction.  It is important to recall that the Civil Guard commenced these illegal incursions in 2009, unrelated to any fishing dispute and that they have continued at regular intervals ever 

since. Indeed, at one point Spanish Civil Guards even entered the Port of Gibraltar and landed on our soil. This has been the case regardless of who was in Government in Spain or in Gibraltar.>>>

Britain calls Guardia Civil 'infamous' for arresting two Gibraltarians

Illustration only

Lidington "shocked by disgraceful behaviour"
MADRID (Agencies) The British government yesterday levelled energetic criticism against the Spanish authorities for the alleged arrest of two Gibraltarians in the sea that surrounds the Rock, an action Britain called 'intolerable and illegal'. Secretary of State for European Affairs David Lidington said he was "shocked by the disgraceful behaviour of the Spanish Guardia Civil" who he said detained the nationals in British Gibraltar territorial waters and transferred them to Spain on Friday." "The government will be making it clear to Spain that such action, on the part of the law enforcement agencies of a EU Partner and NATO Ally, is intolerable and unlawful," he warned. The move comes amid a row over fishing rights between Madrid and Gibraltar, a mostly self-governing British overseas territory on Spain's southern tip that overlooks the only entrance to the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean. Spain ceded Gibraltar to Britain in 1713 under the Treaty of Utrecht but has long argued that it should be returned to Spanish sovereignty. Britain refuses to renounce sovereignty against the wishes of Gibraltarians. According to the British government statement, the Spanish Guardia Civil intercepted a local Gibraltarian sports fishing boat approximately 200 meters (yards) off the coast of Gibraltar. The two were transferred to Algeciras in Spain before being released.

They paint Spanish colours on Gibraltar number plates

(Photo: europasur.es)

ALGECIRAS The Spanish media is talking about a denuncia made by a Gibraltar man who claims that the number plates on his car was painted over with the Spanish colours while he and his family were shopping at the Puerta Europa mall in Algeciras. Clive Freyone says that his daughter's boyfriend's car also suffered similar vandalism at the same place and time: two red stripes at top and bottom of the plates. The Royal Gibraltar Police says that it can confirm the fact but 'for obvious reasons' can do little about it. The shopping mall's management says that although it tries to help in vandalism matters in its parking facility, this is 'open and free' and therefore has no responsibility. Freyone also stated, according to local reports, that he is aware that other similar damage has been reported by people he knows in Gibraltar. This follows an incident whereby a Gibraltarian woman had a Spanish flag removed in the luxury resort of Sotogrande last week; the flag was replaced after the matter became public. It is easy to assume that these incidents are the indirect result of the fishing rights dispute currently in the headlines.

Guardia Civil 'incursions' soar

(Photo: vox.gi)

GIBRALTAR (GibChronicle / Brian Reyes) The number of incursions by Guardia Civil vessels into Gibraltar waters skyrocketed over the past two years, according to statistical data released to Parliament. Spanish state vessels, in common with all other ships, are allowed to sail through British territorial waters in what is known as the right of innocent passage. But if they linger too long or try to exercise jurisdiction, their presence is regarded as an incursion. Between 2002 and 2008, there were just 33 incursions recorded by the authorities in Gibraltar, according to date released by the Gibraltar Government in response to Opposition questions in Parliament. In 2009, there were none. But after that year, the pattern changed dramatically. (Read the whole story here).

King to fishermen: "We are working at a solution and backing you"

Photo: Grupo Joly/Fran Montes

ALGECIRAS King Juan Carlos spent a good part of the day in Algeciras. He arrived by helicopter at about 1pm, landing at the port, on the pier that carries his name and which he opened 12 years ago. He then visited the 'Rio Segura' Guardia Civil patrol vessel. From there he went to the Guardia Civil headquarters, where he listened to an explanation of what the Straits Maritime Watch Service does at its various command posts. Among other subjects, he was told about the unit's vigilance regarding illegal immigration and smuggling operations. At the last stage of his visit, the King received representatives of the fishing community in the area, who are currently involved in controversy with the Government of Gibraltar regarding claims on the waters around the Rock. After listening to their protestations, including one that said that the controversy "is not about the environment, nor about fishing; it is political." The King's concluding words were, "We are working (towards a solution), and we are on your side."

Renewed tension in Algeciras Bay last night

LA LÍNEA While Algeciras and La Línea prepare for their own Royal Visit, local media report about the fishing boat Divina Providencia (Divine Providence), which was fishing in the Bay of Algeciras and was 'accosted' by a Royal Gibraltar Police patrol vessel. One report quoted the head of the fishing fleet of La Línea, Leoncio Fernández, as saying, "She had to go elsewhere to work because you can't fish like that. If the Guardia Civil hadn't been there, she would have been eaten up." Fernández also announced his intention of inviting King Juan Carlos to La Atunara to see the problem with his own eyes. This despite the fact that the fishermen left the latest meeting in Gibraltar to find a solution to the three month old problem full of optimism. "Now I think that the purpose of the meeting was only to drink water," says Fernández, according to another report.

King Juan Carlos to visit Algeciras on June 20 to support Guardia Civil

 Photo: chronicle.gi

Visit is also in response to Prince Edward's visit to Gibraltar

ALGECIRAS King Juan Carlos I is scheduled to visit Algeciras next Wednesday, June 20, to show his support for the Spanish Guardia Civil patrol boats that protect the fishing vessels in the waters close to Gibraltar. He will be visiting the GC Command Centre and later receive the town's insignia from Mayor José Ignacio Landaluce. Another purpose of the royal visit, according to the Spanish media, is to respond in kind to the visit Prince Edward and the Countess of Wessex are making to the Rock as we write. The British royal visit has provoked much irritation in Spain, where the government has called it inappropriate, given the situation regarding the dispute over territorial waters that both countries claim as theirs. The last time the King was in Algeciras was in 1990, when he opened a Maersk container terminal that carries his name. (The photo shows an image of the Queen projected onto the North Face of the Rock last night, which could be seen across the Bay of Algeciras.)

'Spain's fishing armada stopped from raping Gibraltar's waters'

GIBRALTAR (Looking to the Left) In a 2010 report Greenpeace stated: “The Spanish government has encouraged the development of excessive and destructive fishing practices such as bottom trawling, purse seining and long lining. It has supported illegal ‘pirate’ fishing through fishing subsidies, and seems unwilling or unable to effectively prosecute Spanish companies who fish illegally.” It is that same Spanish fishing armada that has until recently raped Gibraltar’s waters, which are British waters, and the Gibraltar government is now insisting its environmental laws are upheld to stop the destruction of its marine environment. Read the full article here.