Gibraltar police have mobilised for the second consecutive day to prevent Spanish fishing boats from casting nets in waters near Gibraltar.
Five fishing boats, accompanied by two Spanish Civil Guard vessels, set out from this southern Spanish city about 9.30pm on Thursday (0530 Friday AEST) and made their way toward the southern entrance of the port of Gibraltar. The same area was the scene on Wednesday night of an incident involving fishing boats, Civil Guard patrols and Gibraltarian police craft. Almost as soon as the fishing boats arrived at the port entrance on Thursday night, the Gibraltarian patrols moved in to prevent the Spanish from deploying their nets. The Gibraltar police displayed "the same aggressiveness as yesterday", a crew member from the fishing boat Union Vazquez Blanco told EFE. The Gibraltarian craft engaged in "dangerous manoeuvres", darting between the Spanish boats at high speed and apparently hitting one of them. "If they continue this way, we'll have no choice but to leave," the owner of one fishing boat said. "We haven't come here to provoke, we have come to see if they have changed their position." The current conflict began in March, when Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo abrogated a 1999 accord that allowed fishing boats from La Linea and Algeciras to operate in waters near the British Crown Colony. Picardo deemed the pact invalid because it clashed with a 1991 Gibraltar law banning all fishing with nets. Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said on Wednesday he will convey an offer of dialogue with Britain over the future of Gibraltar when he travels to London next week for talks with his British counterpart William Hague. He also stressed that Spain will defend its fishing rights in the Bay of Gibraltar, known to Spaniards as Bahia de Algeciras. The 1713 treaty that is the basis for Britain's claim to sovereignty over the Rock limits British maritime control to the port of Gibraltar, Garcia-Margallo said. He urged a return to the terms of the 1999 accord between Gibraltarian authorities and Spanish fishermen.
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