Talks on fishing break down between Spain and Gibraltar

22:45 El NACHO 0 Comments

Fishermen in Algeciras and La Línea have broken off talks with Gibraltar. The Rock has prohibited the use of fishing nets in water which they claim is theirs. The fishermen got up from the table on Monday after technicians from the Gibraltar Government Environment Department insisted on the prohibition of net fishing in waters of the Rock which they described as their own. President of the Federation of Fishing Associations in Andalucía, Pedro Maza, claimed the Gibraltar Government ‘had made a veiled threat’ to the fishermen in the Algeciras Bay, which he described as ‘unacceptable’. The Gibraltarians are insisting in following their 1991 environment law which stopped fishing with nets unless a licence was issued. The Gibraltar First Minister, Fabian Picardo, released a statement on Monday afternoon in which he said the Rock ‘continued to be willing to reach an agreement with the Spanish fishermen which would guarantee the meeting of the laws of Gibraltar’ and avert ‘dangerous and counterproductive’ confrontations at sea. He went on however that any infraction of the law and of the territorial jurisdiction of Gibraltar is unacceptable and the Royal Gibraltar Police would be alerted.