Nov 14 - GSD Calls For Honesty From Government On Fishing With Nets
The GSD says it would like to congratulate GBC and Jonathan Scott on what it says was “an excellent Viewpoint debate” last night on the new marine regulations. The GSD says it was an “informative debate with very well informed participants.”
The GSD would, however, highlight one issue that it says it cannot allow the community to have any misconceptions about. While, according to the GSD, it is true to say that the Nature Protection Act (“the Act”) contains an absolute prohibition on the use of nets in BGTW, on the 29 October 2013 the Government amended the Act in order to allow for regulations to be introduced to permit the use of certain EU-compliant nets.
The amendments to the legislation brought by the Government are very clear and unambiguous, says the GSD. Indeed, the Opposition argues that, after legislation was published, but before it was presented to Parliament, GOHNS had said that it was concerned that “the Government of Gibraltar may be taking steps to allow fishing with nets”. In addition, days before the legislation was presented to Parliament, the Gibraltar Chronicle reported that “the wide expectation is that regulations to be published in the coming days will lift the ban on those methods under clearly-defined circumstances that will include some form of registration scheme”.
The GSD expresses concern that, a year after the Nature Protection Act was amended, the Government has still not introduced those regulations. It is therefore legitimate to ask the question, says the GSD, as it was in the Viewpoint debate, whether the Government is waiting until after the next General Election to do so .
The GSD says it was lambasted by the Government three years ago for having the temerity to suggest that the legislature should consider (a) changing the law in order to allow regulated fishing with EU compliant nets during part of the year; and (b) that such new laws, unlike the total prohibition that exists at present, should be strictly enforced: even if this were to mean arrests or confiscation of equipment.
What the GSD says is now clear (and, in its view, a majority of Gibraltarians, including panellists on Viewpoint, agree) is that the present situation where Gibraltar law is “being flouted on a daily basis” in BGTW by fishermen with nets “is simply unsustainable and makes a mockery of the Rule of Law.” Indeed, the GSD thinks it is legitimate to ask whether the new marine regulations will be effective in preserving fish stocks and protecting marine wildlife “while a blind eye is turned to the issue of fishing with nets.”
The GSD says it will support the Government in its endeavour to “untangle itself from the mess it now finds itself in” but insists there must be clarity and honesty with the people of Gibraltar, adding that, as an Opposition, “it has been clear and honest from the outset.”
