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Opposition want Government to clarify
interim agreement
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The GSD Opposition says it notes with concern the apparently conflicting accounts emanating from the meeting between the Chief Minister and Spanish Fishermen at No 6 Convent Place last Friday and calls for immediate clarification by Government of any agreement reached.
Reports in the Spanish press claim that the Gibraltar Government has agreed to allow Spanish Fishermen to fish in BGTW as from the 16 August until the end of the year, during which time negotiations will continue in order to find a permanent solution to the current crisis.
They add: In less than clear statements reported in Gibraltar, the Chief Minister concerned himself with the need for "real data" to fill in what he describes as "desk-top data that has been made available", which may then provide scope for some fishing in Gibraltar waters.
They then call on the Chief Minister to make, as a matter of urgency, a full statement on the terms of any interim agreement the Government has reached with the Spanish Fishermen to include:
1. Does any agreement reached allow the Spanish Fishermen to fish in BGTW between 16th August and 1st December, as they claim?
2. What fishing will be allowed in this period under the terms of any interim agreement that has been reached?
3. If fishing is allowed during this period, and bearing in mind that the Government has claimed that the 1991 Nature Protection Act does not allow any fishing with any nets whatsoever and that the 1999 Fishing Agreement was unlawful, under what ‘legal’ cover has any such interim agreement been reached?
GSD Deputy Leader Daniel Feetham said: “It increasingly looks like the Government has got itself into, to use the translation of the Spanish figure of speech, ‘an alleyway without exit’. Certainly, the present conflicting reports perpetuates the unacceptable uncertainty that has characterized the Government’s handling of the Fishing Dispute, as the 16th August approaches. The GSD calls for immediate clarification.”
13-08-12
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