Gibraltar and Spanish town agree on cross-border group to help sort out fishing dispute
Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo and Spanish town La Linea Mayor Gemma Araujo agreed the creation of a cross-border joint working group that will be examining all aspects of the fishing dispute with Spain.
The meeting in Gibraltar was attended by the La Linea fishermen representatives who also subscribed the terms of the agreement.
At a packed press conference in Convent Place (Gib Government House) Tuesday night, it also emerged that a commission of independent experts will be set up to advice and report to the Gibraltar Government within a period of 60 days with its findings.
The commission is expected to initiate its work immediately as soon as the experts are appointed. There will be an equal number of representatives from both sides of the frontier although their names are not yet in the public domain.
The La Linea fishermen have in the meantime agreed not to carry out any defiance or breach of the laws of Gibraltar “currently in force.”
Both sides have also vowed to achieve greater understanding of each other’s positions and “to seek to identify situations that might enable all parties’ objectives to be met.”
The Algeciras Union of Fishermen did not attend the meeting, although an open invitation has been made to them.
Speaking to the Gibraltar Chronicle, Mr Picardo expressed confidence that they had “let down those who would like to see us once again, fail in our attempts to reach understanding with the Spanish fishermen, in a way that is designed to deliver dialogue, cooperation and friendship.”
He said that they had managed to bridge “that hair’s breadth” that there was between agreement and disagreement to go forward to structure a future in relations between Gibraltar and La Linea and hopefully also Algeciras, “which will be positive and not negative as there has been serious attempts to ensure was the case negatively in the past week.”
Asked whether this agreement would secure peace in the bay, Mr Picardo said that this agreement was not designed to keep the peace, but to create “an opportunity for understanding and for the relationship to be positive.”
“Keeping the peace is a consequence of that, it is not an aim,” he declared.
He reiterated the position of the Gibraltar Government that the law of Gibraltar “must be upheld” and that breaches of the law “cannot be condoned or tolerated at any distance from the shore.”
Mr Picardo noted that there is not a complete ban on fishing in Gibraltar waters and that the Spanish vessels could continue to do so as long as they used lawful fishing methods which exclude all forms of nets.
As regards the work of the commission of experts, Mr Picardo stated that they will be reporting their conclusions to the Gibraltar Government “which will then have to determine what it does with those conclusions.”
He said that the Government has already started a process of consultation to update the 1991 Nature Protection Act, with local fishermen and submariners, and that now he would seek the views of the La Linea and Algeciras fishermen “in respect of some of the points of the Act.”
Mr Picardo said the Act is a 20 year law which has to be kept under constant revision.
The Chief Minister also highlighted the mediation carried out by the Mayor of La Linea Gemma Araujo and the “positive atmosphere” that had underlined their meeting.
Mrs. Araujo stressed the importance of “dialogue and consensus” and the efforts to identify common ground to ensure “coexistence between Gibraltar and La Linea.”
She praised the good disposition of all sides to “re-channel the situation away from the media ‘storm’” for a constructive purpose.
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33 comments Feed
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counting the passing ships ?
taxing the passing ships ?
some eccentric/politic/wanted refugees hiding ?
Melilla (Spanish pronunciation: [meˈliʎa]) is a 12.3 square kilometres (4.7 sq mi) autonomous city of Spain and an exclave on the north coast of Morocco. Melilla, along with the Spanish exclave Ceuta, is one of the two Spanish territories located in mainland Africa
I've read quite a few of your posts and I fail to comprehend what points you are trying to make. You seem to just string random words together which seem to be vaguely anti-British.
I'm Gibraltarian. Do you know anything about Gibraltar or our history? Do you know what the Treaty of Utrecht is?
Thought not - so shut up.
I don^t defend Spaniards !
& 3
I am an actual man not history curious
I do want to learn that why is Gibraltar so important for English !
that might help.
and spain is just trying to do another CFK ,
they all persieve the brits as weak,
but suprise suprise,
whos going to find out first,
@1 If you REALLY want to know, Gibraltar was ceded, by Spain, to Britain, IN PERPETUITY. If you have trouble with that word, it means FOREVER. Spanish cocksuckers, similar to argie cocksuckers, like to say that the treaty that agreed this, the Treaty of Utrecht, doesn't mention Gibraltar territorial waters, so they don't exist. However, the same treaty doesn't mention Spanish territorial waters either, so they don't exist. Thereby proving that the Spanish, Latins, argies are complete brainless. Let's do the world a favour. Destruction.
your opinion is not convincing for me ............
more strategic please !
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
& 6
the unruly conquerror
Gibraltar was ceded,by Spain to Britain in perpetuity.........
don^t laugh me .........
can you bring any documents proves your opinion.?
“The Catholic King does hereby, for himself, his heirs and successors, yield to the Crown of Great Britain the full and entire propriety of the town and castle of Gibraltar, together with the port, fortifications, and forts thereunto belonging; and he gives up the said propriety to be held and enjoyed absolutely with all manner of right for ever, without any exception or impediment whatsoever.”
This treaty was signed on 13 July 1713. So the Spanish signed away Gibraltar to the British Crown FOR EVER. Trying to take it back would be illegal. But these days the people of Gibraltar have the right to self determination. And they want to remain British, not become part of Spain.
Just like the Falklands really. In 1850, Argentina recognised Britains Soveignty over the Falklands. So legally they are British. And these days the people of the Falklands have the right to self determination, and choose to be British.
Any way you look at it Spain and Argentina have no legal, historic or moral rights to dictate how the people of these BOTs live or who they decide to pledge their allegiance to.
Treaty of Utrecht was signed basically between France / Britain in 1713
As you know France saw a Revolution and Napoleon Bonaparte period
so the treaty could not be valid for France Republics ..then this treaty is invalid .
Keep up the good work!
Is spain going to give its african enclaves back??? and France the colony in south America????
Just noticed that Spain have a colony in western sahara, its pretty big. Funny how its only spain or former spanish colonies that seem to whine and grasp at land when infact they still hold territory in Africa!!
As bad as the RG's wanting to colonise Falklands and South Georgia + antarctic.
that these things were signed , to be obeyed,
in the 21st cetury,
the un,educated, it seems wants to destroy and tear up all agreements that it dislikes,
just to get what it wants .
and the clock turns backwards .
Europe would look a different place had the Treaty of Utrecht not been signed, and honoured, over the centuries, which just makes Spain's position on Gibraltar look absurd.
@12 Who rattled your cage? Do I understand your point about “the waters”? Of course I do. Typical Latin obfuscation. The Treaty doesn't mention “territorial waters” says Spain. “So Gibraltar doesn't have any territorial waters”. The Treaty doesn't mention “territorial waters” says I. So Spain doesn't have any territorial waters. But then the concept of “territorial waters” wasn't internationally accepted until the late 18th century. So Gibraltar got territorial waters when Spain did. A fact recently tacitly accepted by the Spanish. In a recent “incident” a Royal Navy vessel ordered a Spanish Guardia Civil vessel to leave British Gibraltar Territorial Waters for being in breach of Article 19 of UNCLOS. The Spanish vessel left.
@21 Spain's position on Gibraltar IS absurd. And then we have the argies position on the Falklands. At least the Spanish haven't descended to the asinine level of calling the peninsula by another name (yet)!
If you are saying that the treaty of Utrecht cannot be valid because of a regime change i.e. France becoming a Republic, this would mean that a lot of treaties in the World would be invalid. This is obviously not the case and a poor argument.
go back to sleep
maybe you should wake up!! cause the only one asleep IS YOU::
thats all you are,
no loyalty just a troll.
1) it isn't a colony
2) it isn't English
3) the vast majority of the population of Gibraltar are of Spanish descent, so even the desperately hackneyed arguments employed by the Argentinians to argue that self-determination does not apply in the Falklands don't fly with Gibraltar
4) ripping up the Treaty of Utrecht doesn't change international law .. which says that Gibraltar is British
5) whatever else you say will probably be wrong too
6) yes you are a troll
Give Gibraltar back to Spain!!
Shame on Britain!! Bloody disgrace.....
You again! Thought we'd so embarrassed you with your lack of Australian knowledge, that you'd picked another nom-de-plume.
You are a bloody disgrace mate.
Do you still come from Melbourne or have you changed cities now?
You couldn't answer anything correctly about Melbourne, so maybe you've emigrated.
Waiting to hear from you, cobber.
he is a kangerooo in sheeps clothing .
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