MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Fox's call for action supported by Falklands councillor.

British Shadow Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, has announced that he will be asking Defence Secretary, John Reid, whether the British government proposes any action to prevent the harassment of Falkland Islands fishing vessels by Argentinean naval ships.

This question from Mr. Fox, who is known to take a keen interest in South Atlantic issues and recently questioned the British capacity to respond to any future hostile action against the Falkland Islands, was no doubt prompted by the arrest and subsequent detention in Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina, of the Falklands-flagged vessel, John Cheek. (See Mercopress March 09)

Interviewed today by Stacey Bragger of the Falkland islands Radio Service (F.I.R.S), Falkland Islands Councillor, Mike Summers said that in view of the way that the episode with the MV John Cheek had progressed and the Argentine authorities' apparent ambivalence over the exact limits of its economic exclusion zone, he thought it "very valid" that Mr. Fox should ask the British Government what they proposed to do to ensure that Falklands fishing vessels are not unfairly harassed, either on the high seas or in the Falklands zone.

The MV John Cheek, which is registered in the Falklands, is jointly owned by Fortuna Ltd of Stanley and the Spanish company Pescapuerta. Owners and the Captain of the vessel have consistently denied that it was fishing inside the Argentine zone, as alleged.

John Fowler (Mercopress) Stanley