BC FISH SPAIN / Spanish resume fishing in disputed Atlantic area

By Robert Hart

MADRID Spanish trawlers resumed fishing on Tuesday in disputed North Atlantic fishing grounds, guarded by a navy patrol boat with orders to protect them "by all means" against seizure by Canadian vessels.

"We are all in the grounds, fishing," reported the captain of one of 19 Spanish boats working in international waters off Newfoundland in an interview with national radio.

He said the trawlers, which returned to the fishing grounds on Monday but did not put out their nets, were staying close to the Spanish naval patrol boat Vigia and a European Union (EU) craft observing their operations.

Some five Canadian patrol boats were close at hand, the captain said.

Spain's Defence Minister Julian Garcia Vargas told reporters on Monday night the Vigia and a second patrol boat on the way to the North Atlantic had been given orders to protect Spanish vessels "by all means, including running risk of collision."

He said a serious accident could not be ruled out, especially in rough seas.

"We would regret any accident...but it would not be the fault of the Spanish government," Garcia Vargas said.

A navy frigate was also ready to sail if needed.

The fishing dispute between Canada on one side and Spain and its EU partners on the other began earlier this month when Canada seized the Spanish trawler Estai in international waters and charged its captain with illegal fishing.

It flared again at the weekend when Canadian patrol vessels cut the nets of one Spanish trawler and tried to board two others outside its 200 mile territorial limit.

Canada claims European fishermen, especially Spanish, are devastating stocks of Greenland halibut off the Grand Banks by overfishing and netting young, undersize fish.

Spain and the EU have branded as piracy Canadian action against fishing boats. The protagonists traded accusations on Monday at a United Nations fishing conference in New York.

EU fishing commissioner Emma Bonino said the 15 member Union had unanimously decided to suspend negotiations with Canada while it continued to harass EU boats.

Spanish Foreign Minister Javier Solana on Monday summoned the Canadian ambassador to deliver a formal protest over weekend action in the fishing grounds and later told reporters: "We will not tolerate the Canadian authorities seizing another boat."

Solana stressed he did not want to see a break in diplomatic relations. "Times of crisis are when you most need diplomatic relations," he said.

Spain's official State Bulletin on Tuesday published a government measure ordering reintroduction of visas for Canadian tourists, although the retaliatory move will not take effect for another four or five days.

Referring to the Estai incident in a "personal view" on the fishing dispute published in Tuesday's Financial Times of London, Spanish Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Luis Atienza said Canada could have legally inspected the trawler's nets and holds under North Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO) rules.

"But it preferred to board the vessel in international waters, using armed intimidation, and then confiscate it.

Neither international law nor public opinion can recognise an inspection carried out in those circumstances.

"This same vessel underwent nine NAFO, Canadian and EU inspections in 1994, with only one minor infringement,"Atienza wrote.