Sunday, March 25th 2012 - 08:48 UTC

Gibraltar and Spain in direct discussions to solve fishing controversy

The British Government is understood to be supporting a local Gibraltar–Campo (Spain) fishermen resolution to the recent spate of exchanges over fishing rights in British Gibraltar territorial Waters.

Algeciras mayor Landaluce met with Gibraltar Chief Minister Picardo

So far London has not responded publicly to the protest lodged by the Spanish Foreign Ministry this week when it called in Robert Tinline, the commercial attaché at the British Embassy in Madrid urging UK to restore the position to that which existed after the GSD government’s 1999 agreement with Spanish fishermen which took a flexible approach to fishing in local waters.

Spain has complained at the fishing boats being turned away from waters within the 3 mile radius.

Leading the protest in parallel to Madrid diplomats has been the ruling PP mayor of Algeciras Jose Ignacio Landaluce who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Madrid Parliament.

Under the old agreement - which the GSLP/Liberal Government says breaches Gibraltar’s and EU environmental protection laws, vessels were tolerated if they stayed at least 225 metres from the shoreline.

Madrid described the summons as a traditional diplomatic move.

Following his meeting with Chief Minister Fabian Picardo last Wednesday, Landaluce said he had taken a sensitive approach to the situation to try and avoid provoking and “sterile aggression”.

A meeting between Gibraltar’s environmental authorities and the fishermen was agreed at Wednesday’s meeting at No 6 and is still pending. A UK source suggested that this was a good first step to resolving the issue.
 

4 comments Feed

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1 The Cestrian (#) Mar 25th, 2012 - 10:16 am Report abuse
Good too see the Spanish, for all their faults, directly talking to the Gibraltarians about this. Maybe a certain dictatorship in South America could do the same with the Falkland Islanders.
2 Brit Bob (#) Mar 25th, 2012 - 03:17 pm Report abuse
Nice to see people talk, sign agreements and stick to them.
3 aussie sunshine (#) Mar 25th, 2012 - 04:50 pm Report abuse
yeah!! well done to both countries
4 Truth_Telling_Troll (#) Mar 25th, 2012 - 07:19 pm Report abuse
@1

Why would anyone negotiate with arrogant twats like you? Only fools.

Only imbeciles negotiate with people who think you are inferior scum, proven by your remarks “for all their faults” against the Spanish. Are fou fault free you idiot? :)

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