The Diplomat
The Junta de Andalucía yesterday withdrew the map of the production areas of bivalve molluscs and other marine invertebrates in which a perimeter was delimited around the waters that Gibraltar considers British and, therefore, under its jurisdiction.
The reaction of the Andalusian Administration occurs, as reported by Europa Sur, hours after that newspaper published that the website of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development maintained it despite the complaint made by Vox in this regard at the end of last September.
Asked by the aforementioned newspaper, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was officially silent about the map, which contravenes the historical position of Spain that recalls that the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713 gives the United Kingdom jurisdiction over the waters of the port of Gibraltar, but not on those surrounding the colony.
The map used by the Junta de Andalucía clearly delimited the waters that Gibraltar considers its own. For this, the Andalusian Administration used a free collaborative map, OpenStreetMap, used by companies and institutions to produce maps of all kinds. This project was founded by the British engineer Steve Coast, a prominent figure in the world of geography and cartography.
As Europa Sur recalls, Spain and Gibraltar have a historical conflict over the ownership of the waters surrounding the Rock, and there have been periodic disputes between the two sides over the presence of vessels from one side or the other in the disputed area.
So far this year, the United Kingdom has counted 382 “incursions” by vessels of Spanish authorities in what it considers its jurisdictional waters. The Gibraltar Chronicle reported this information last Monday from a reply by James Heappey, UK Armed Forces Minister, to a question put to him by Conservative MP Mark Logan.
