The Diplomat
The mayor of Algeciras and PP senator for Cadiz, José Ignacio Landaluce, has called on the chief minister of Gibraltar, Fabián Picardo, to “stop pressuring and harassing” Spanish vessels and “respect” international law, actions that the Rock claims have taken place in “British territorial waters of Gibraltar”.
In a communiqué, the Royal Gibraltar Police reported that a Spanish fishing boat had been reported for “numerous offences”, including four charges of fishing in “illegal waters” and another two for “dangerous navigation”.
It explained that shortly after 9.00 a.m. on Monday the fishing vessel “Mi Daniela”, whose skipper is Jonathan Sanchez, was stopped in British territorial waters and the 33-year-old Spanish national was reported by officers from the Maritime Section of the Royal Gibraltar Police, assisted by the Environment Department and the Maritime Section of the Customs and Excise Service.
The report came after “numerous offences involving the same fishing vessel, dating back to early May this year” had already been reported to the Royal Gibraltar Police, the statement said.
The fishing boat “MI Daniela” was again harassed yesterday morning by the Royal Gibraltar Police when it went to the area to collect the nets it had thrown into the sea the day before, reports Efe. The skipper of the boat, Jonathan Sánchez, had contacted the Guardia Civil to escort him to the site, where the Royal Gibraltar Police were stationed. After collecting his nets, the fisherman told Efe: “They have been on site insisting that the waters are theirs, and if it wasn’t for the Guardia Civil, they would have taken me in”.
In this regard, Landaluce, the mayor of Algeciras and popular senator asked Picardo to “stop pressuring” Spanish vessels, both official and fishing, to avoid creating “a conflict” that “should not exist since Gibraltar does not own the waters surrounding the colony,” reports Europa Press.
The mayor of Algeciras regretted “the negative and confrontational attitude” of the authorities of the Rock, which accumulate “several incidents of this type”, referring to the confrontation with a Customs Surveillance vessel and the one that occurred on Monday when the Gibraltar Police and another Customs vessel “have boarded a fishing boat in the waters of the Bay of Algeciras”.
“Gibraltar does not own the waters of the Bay and the eastern side, which it uses and which are not legally its own. We are suffering unauthorised pressure on Spanish vessels, this time it has been the turn of the fishing boat ‘Mi Daniela’, whose owners are looking for a living at sea and in the area where they have always done so in search of their family’s livelihood”, lamented the popular senator.
He accused Gibraltar of “usurping” waters that “do not belong to it”, something which, he said, can be seen with “the continuous landfills”. On this, he warned that “they will not stop trying to take from us what belongs to Spain and is established by international law and the Treaty of Utrecht” and that “they are looking for excuses to exacerbate the situation”.
Landaluce showed his solidarity with the fishermen and with the officials of the Customs Surveillance and the Civil Guard of the Sea, and asked the Government of Spain to “take action on the matter” because “Gibraltar is not doing things right, they know it, and the law protects us”.
“We ask the government of Pedro Sánchez to act and stop looking the other way by failing to fulfil its obligations, to protect the fishermen and to formally protest to international bodies and to the UK authorities,” he requested.
Gibraltar’s chief minister, Fabian Picardo, yesterday responded to Landaluce’s comments by describing them as “nonsense” and alluding to the fact that “the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea stipulates that no territory can have a dry coastline”. This, according to the Gibraltarian politician, “means that sovereignty cannot end at the coastline and must extend to the surrounding waters”, which is why he insists that the waters surrounding the Rock are British sovereignty.
