The Gibraltar government has said it is willing to continue dialogue with Spanish fishermen to avert dangerous and counterproductive confrontations at sea.
It follows the breakdown of talks yesterday between the Chief Technical Officer of the Ministry for the Environment Michael Gill and Pedro Maza, president of the Andalusian Federation of Fishermen.
In a statement to the Chronicle, Convent Place said it believed that through dialogue, a solution that would be positive and acceptable for all parties can be reached.
Earlier Sr Maza had expressed disappointment at the outcome of the meeting and said they had made every effort to achieve a solution.
However, he remained adamant that they will fish with or without the Government’s approval.
The Gibraltar Government declared that the decision of the representatives of these fishermen to stop engaging in dialogue will lead only to confrontation.
A spokesman continued: Despite the break up of discussions yesterday, Government remains willing to engage with representatives of the Spanish fishermen in keeping with the laws of Gibraltar.
Any infringement of the rule of law and of the territorial jurisdiction of the Parliament of Gibraltar is unacceptable to the Government. Enforcement of Gibraltar’s laws is a matter exclusively for the RGP devoid of outside influence from politicians or anyone else.
The RGP enjoys the full confidence of the Government in dealing with any law enforcement aspects of this issue as with all others.
The decision of the representatives of these fishermen to stop engaging in dialogue will therefore lead only to confrontation. Through dialogue, the Government believes that a solution that would be positive and acceptable for all parties can be reached.
The Government therefore remains willing to continue to engage in dialogue to avoid dangerous and counterproductive confrontations.
Pedro Maza, the spokesman for the fishing cofradias said they had made every effort possible to reach an agreement but this had not been possible. He said various options were looked at without result and noted there had been goodwill from both sides.
Sr Maza said there was no agreement and no further dialogue would take place and that fishermen could not be blamed if there was any confrontation in the future.
He was adamant that Spanish fleets would continue to operate with or without the Gibraltar Government’s approval.
The meeting which lasted nearly three hours took place at the Finance Centre Boardroom in Europort.
Gibraltar Chronicle