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NATIONAL DAY SPECIAL PULLOUT
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OLIVE PRESS
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CHIEF Minister Fabian Picardo has said he would still like to sign an EU treaty with Spain by the end of the year but it will probably need to wait until 2024. In an interview he earmarked plans to have a Spanish consulate in Gibraltar that would recognise the Rock’s British sovereignty. But he admitted that Gibraltar would now have to wait until Spain has a new government to restart negotiations. It comes after Spanish Acting Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said the recent ‘serious incidents’ at sea were outside the ‘constructive spirit’ of the negotiations. Albares also admitted the talks would only restart ‘once the investiture process is resolved’ and a new Spanish government comes together in Madrid. In response, Picardo defended his territory’s action at sea, saying ‘we have exercised jurisdiction over the water because the law enforcement agents have felt it appropriate to do so.’ He insisted that ‘our water are our waters’ and that the ‘UN Law of the Sea made it clear that the reservation that Spain has filed [over Gibraltar waters] does not have the force of law’.
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Vol. 8 Issue 206
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FAMILIES COME FIRST!
EXCLUSIVE: Fishing chiefs vow to continue trawling off Gibraltar despite risk of further skirmishes and legal action
PICTURE CREDITS: Kayleigh Beardsley
Treaty talks delay
GIBRALTAR
By Alberto Lejarraga & Kayleigh Beardsley in La Linea
SPANISH fishermen ‘don’t care’ about British territorial waters, they have brazenly told the Olive Press. They insist they are more interested in ‘feeding their families’ than the sovereignty of Gibraltar’s waters. Sparking the likelihood of further incidents, two fishing bosses have backed the trawlers as they prepare to continue operating off the Rock. It comes despite the threat of massive fines and jail sentences - in a potential headache for UK-Spain relations at a sensitive time. The fishermen, from La Linea - one of Spain’s poorest towns - claim they are ‘struggling to provide for their families’ due to the ongoing border row off the British Overseas Territory. There have been multiple skirmishes between Spanish boats and Gibraltarian police this summer which have threatened to drag the UK and Spain into an international spat. Spain’s Foreign Ministry made a diplomatic protest to the British Embassy in Madrid over the ‘serious incidents’, while the Junta called on Gibraltar to ‘stop harassing’ the fishermen. The boss of La Linea’s Fishing Association, Jonathan Sanchez, 33, faces
DON’T CARE: Fishermen, while Jonathan Sanchez (inset) and Leoncio Fernandez (right) court for allegedly fishing ‘illegally’ off the Rock. “I was fishing one mile from Gibraltar and our government says those waters are Spanish,” he insisted to the Olive Press. “As the nets I use are illegal in Gibraltar the police there are harassing us on a daily basis.”
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Sanchez insisted he will not attend his court hearing, expected this month, if the Spanish Government does not provide him with a lawyer. However, he did admit the Spanish authorities have told him not to fish again near Gibraltar to avoid ‘making the conflict worse’. “The Guardia Civil have asked us not to fish there until the situation calms down.” The problem, he insists, is fishing further
we do it for a living,” he told the Olive Press. In response to the claims, the Gibraltar government ruled it was ‘certain’ where its territorial waters began and it would enforce international laws if fishermen from Spain entered them. “His Majesty’s Government has absolutely no doubts about the sovereignty of the waters around Gibraltar, so we are asking for unnecessary incidents in the water to be The Olive Press watched a Royal Gibraltar Police boat avoided as they create risk controversially entering La Linea’s Puerto Chico Port and for the crews of the vessels.” sailing just metres from Spanish boats. Illegal tuna fishing in terAs fisherman Jonathan Sanchez insisted: “It’s provocaritorial waters carries a tive. They can come here, do whatever they want, and no hefty fine of up to £1000. one says anything to them. Recently, a Spanish fish“Tensions have been going on for years, but we have alerman landed a £600 fine ways fished in the area and a solution needs to be agreed and a 12-month ban. because it is our livelihood.” Opinion Page 6
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into Algeciras bay means netting far fewer fish due to an ongoing algae plague. “We have gone from making €1,800 a month to not even €1,000,” he claimed. “I almost cannot afford the petrol so I will have no choice but to fish nearer Gibraltar to provide for my wife and kid. I have a mortgage on my house as well as the boat. “It is our livelihood and I don’t care who owns the water,” Sanchez added. His opinion is shared by Leoncio Fernandez, President of the Shipowners of Algeciras Bay, who added he ‘couldn't care less’ about the sovereignty of the waters. “We don’t care who owns the waters, I don’t care if they are British or Spanish, we just need to fish because