June 04 - PDP React To Fishing Report
The following is statement on behalf of the PDP:
The PDP have had an initial read of the Report prepared by Dr Chris Tydeman and Indrani Lutchman. The electorate will recall that Dr Tydeman is in fact the same expert that criticised the British Government in April this year in a British Parliamentary Select Committee for failing to provide the necessary support to our RGP to allow them to patrol Gibraltar Territorial Waters.
It is a report that covers more than 130 pages so will require further consideration but there are some inescapable primary conclusions that simply re-affirm the PDP’s position and what most people in Gibraltar know and what is commonsense.
Gibraltar waters are up to the current 3 nautical mile mark no less Gibraltarian than the Piazza and we are entitled to legislate in their regard as we would in relation to land related matters;
The Nature Protection Act is broadly in keeping with modern environmental law, though can be modified or updated;
The Government are perfectly entitled to insist on the proper enforcement of the NPA;
The 1999 Fishing Agreement was a “temporary solution” that only delayed matters and there was and is a need for a permanent solution;
There should be a licensing system introduced for recreational fishing managed by a Gibraltar authority but no commercial fishing should be allowed until more data is collated;
Law must be implemented and where broken action must follow;
The RGP should enforce the law but require British Government support.
It is clear that the report’s primary findings entirely vindicate the PDP’s position and to a large extent the recommendations it has made during the last year and a half.
The 1999 Agreement was a diplomatic patch up job that though successful at the time to diffuse the situation, should have been replaced with a permanent solution in calmer times. Although the triggering and management of the current issue by the GSLP/Liberal Government can be called into political question, there is a need to resolve it once and for all. Moreover that this requires both pragmatic and sensible solutions such as licensing but an insistence that the British Government comply with their constitutional obligations and provide the necessary support to allow the RGP to prevent Gibraltar laws being broken anywhere in Gibraltar including at sea.
The PDP remains committed to support the Government to defend Gibraltar’s interest but would remind the Government that Gibraltarians cannot continue to be humiliated daily through territorial incursions and challenges to our sovereignty. The PDP repeats what it stated in September 2012, namely that the matter needs urgent resolution diplomatically and after resolution all our enforcement agencies and those of the MOD must be applied to enforce our laws with action including, where appropriate, arrests.
