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HELL IN HIGH WATER:
However the fishing dispute ends, it will
be governed by these two standpoints
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By David Eade
The fishing dispute drags on like a drag net scrapping up all that lies on the Gibraltar sea bottom. We say, or at least our government does, it is all about the environment. The Campo fishermen believe they have the right to fish here but by and large are waiting to the commission has pronounced before deciding where to fish next.
Others here and in Spain say that fishing is a side issue and there is much more at play. Of course they are right too because even if our government is also right, and it is all about the environment, it is about the environment in our territorial waters.
OUR RIGHT TO 3 MILES
At some stage London or indeed Gibraltar has to bite this bullet and go to court to defend Gibraltar’s right to its own internationally recognised territorial waters. Under the Geneva Convention, to which Spain is a signatory, we have that right to three miles where space allows. Hence in the bay the dividing line is down the middle.
Spain does not recognise the convention to which it is a signatory. It holds that under the Treaty of Utrecht Gibraltar has no waters or indeed airspace. Hence however this fishing dispute ends it will be governed by those two stand points.
Gibraltar will defend its waters and only allow the Spanish fishermen back in if the commission rules they can. If they are then they will still be governed by the laws of Gibraltar and be open to searches by our police.
Spain will defend its waters which it believes includes the waters of the Rock. Therefore whether the Campo fishermen are allowed back in or not they and their government will argue they have every legal right to be here. Hence not only will confrontations with the fishermen continue but also between the RGP, Royal Navy and the Guardia Civil.
The fishermen are merely a side issue: the Guardia Civil were frequent invaders of Gibraltar’s waters long before the current ban on fishing was introduced: they will be in the future. Whatever the outcome of this dispute the waters issue has not gone out like the tide but remains as real as ever. We are just giving a new tag name to a very old dispute.
The Gibraltar Government has challenged Spain to go to court to get a ruling on this issue. However Madrid has no intention of doing so – so if we want a decision either No 6 or London eventually will have to issue the writs.
No commission, no fishing accord or any other agreement is going to alter the one simple fact: we say the waters are ours – Spain says the waters are theirs. We can wave the Geneva Convention at Madrid; they’ll wave the Treaty of Utrecht at us.
Until such time as the European Court hands down a cast iron verdict this game will continue: a game in which there is much chaos and action but never any winner.
DRAG SPAIN INTO COURT
If the British and Gibraltar Governments believe that there is no doubt that Gibraltar has its own international waters as designated by the Geneva Convention then they have to drag Madrid into the dock and put an end to this recurring farce in our waters.
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