Bay at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, shared by Spain and Gibraltar
The
Bay of Gibraltar
(
Spanish
:
Bahia de Algeciras
,
lit.
'Bay of Algeciras'), is a bay at the southern end of the
Iberian Peninsula
. It is around 10 km (6.2 mi) long by 8 km (5.0 mi) wide, covering an area of some 75 km
2
(29 sq mi), with a depth of up to 400 m (1,300 ft) in the centre of the bay. It opens to the south into the
Strait of Gibraltar
and the
Mediterranean Sea
.
The shoreline is densely settled. From west to east, the shore is divided between the
Spanish municipalities
of
Algeciras
,
Los Barrios
,
San Roque
,
La Linea de la Concepcion
and the
British Overseas Territory
of
Gibraltar
. The larger part of the shoreline is Spanish territory, with part of the eastern half of the bay belonging to Gibraltar.
[1]
The east and west entrances to the bay are marked respectively by the
Europa Point Lighthouse
at
Europa Point
, Gibraltar and the
Punta Carnero Lighthouse
in
Punta Carnero
to the west of Algeciras.
History
[
edit
]
The area around the Bay of Gibraltar has been inhabited for millennia and the bay itself has been used by merchant shipping for at least 3,000 years. The Phoenicians are believed to have had a settlement near Gibraltar and the Romans established the town of
Portus Alba
("White Port") on the site of modern Algeciras. Later peoples, notably the
Moors
and the
Spanish
, also established settlements on the shoreline during the
Middle Ages
and early modern period, including the heavily fortified and highly strategic port at Gibraltar, which fell to
England
in 1704.
The bay's strategic position at the mouth of the Mediterranean has made it a much-contested body of water over the centuries. It has been the site of several major sea battles, notably the
Battle of Gibraltar (1607)
and the
First Battle of Algeciras
(1801). During the
Second World War
,
Italy
launched
human torpedoes
from Algeciras on several occasions in attempts to sink British ships moored in the Gibraltar harbour, with mixed success due to the work of
Commander Crabbe
.
More recently, there has been (and remains) a persistent dispute between Spain and Gibraltar over British sovereignty in the Bay of Gibraltar. Spain does not recognise British claims of sovereignty in the area save for a small portion around the Port of Gibraltar, but the UK has asserted a normal 3
nmi
(5.6 km; 3.5 mi) limit around Gibraltar, with a demarcation in the middle of the bay. This claim contradicts the treaty of Utrecht of 1713, by which Spain ceded to Great Britain the city and port of Gibraltar and the internal waters of that port, without granting any territoriality over the surrounding waters in the Bay of Algeciras.
[
dubious
–
discuss
]
This has caused tensions between the two sides, especially over the issue of Spanish fishermen operating in British Gibraltar territorial waters.
[2]
Both have signed, and are bound, by the
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
which specifies territorial waters.
[3]
After the arrest of a Spanish fishing vessel by the
Royal Gibraltar Police
in 1998, the problem largely subsided. An incident in the area in 2007 concerning the
Odyssey Marine Exploration
was resolved in court cases by 2012 with Spain being awarded the ownership of the treasure-trove.
[4]
Ecology
[
edit
]
The bay is a breeding area for several
dolphin
species, notably the
common dolphin
,
striped dolphin
and
bottlenose dolphin
, and is also visited by migratory
whales
.
[5]
It is a popular destination for tourist
whale-watching
trips from Algeciras or Gibraltar.
The other major draw for tourists is
scuba diving
: the area is rich with wrecks and historical artifacts such as crashed
Avro Shackleton
aircraft and
Sherman tanks
from the
Second World War
, and ancient anchors from
Phoenician
and
Roman
ships.
To encourage marine diversity an
artificial reef
was constructed in the bay at the end of the runway.
Industrialisation
[
edit
]
The area around the bay in Spain is heavily industrialised with extensive
petrochemical
installations near
San Roque
(such as the
CEPSA
oil refinery
and
Acerinox
stainless steel
manufacturing plant) and working
ports
in both
Algeciras
and Gibraltar. The bay's waters are used by a considerable number of large and medium-sized ships, notably
oil tankers
and
freighters
.
Oil bunkering
activities are also heavily carried out.
CEPSA Refinery
[
edit
]
The CEPSA
Gibraltar-San Roque Refinery
, located in Spain, occupies 1.5 million m
2
and employs 1,000.
[6]
In 2015 the refinery produced 13.8 million tons of fuel, 260,000 tons of purified terephthalic acid, 170,700 tons of purified
isophthalic acid
and 157,300 tons of
polyethylene terephthalate
.
[7]
In 2007 a particularly serious sulphur incident happened as well as intermittent flaring episodes. The impacts of such upsets on surrounding neighbourhoods had provoked outrage and public protest which led to the Consejeria de Medio Ambiente of the
Junta de Andalucia
to order an independent audit aimed at investigating such incidents.
[8]
[9]
[10]
The refinery continues to cause concern with close co-operation between various groups monitoring its activities.
[11]
Bunkering
[
edit
]
Fuel tanks on ships are known as
bunkers
, and the process of fueling termed bunkering.
Due to its geographical position on a major shipping route, Gibraltar is one of the largest bunkering ports in the Mediterranean, followed by neighbour
Algeciras
in Spain. The ports in the Straits ? Algeciras,
Ceuta
and Gibraltar ? are the second bunker market in Europe, behind the so-called Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp area.
[12]
In Gibraltar 4,300,000 t (4,700,000 short tons) of bunker fuel were delivered in 2007 compared with just 840,000 t (930,000 short tons) in 1990 and bunkering is now the main activity within the Port of Gibraltar. Of a total of 8,351 deep-sea vessels which called at Gibraltar in 2007, 5,640 were supplied with fuel.
[13]
Algeciras recorded bunker sales of about 2,400,000 t (2,600,000 short tons) in 2008. From the 24,535 vessels called at the Port of Algeciras Bay, 2,173 took on fuel.
[12]
Gibraltar in 2009 supplied over 4,200,000 t (4,600,000 short tons) of fuel.
[14]
The local CEPSA refinery produces supplies much of the fuel for bunkering in the bay which it delivers on seven dedicated barge to either Algeciras or Gibraltar.
[15]
Pollution
[
edit
]
Due to all these facts and the heavy industries along the shoreline, airborne and
marine pollution
are serious problems in the area. Environmental groups have raised concerns about the risks of oil spills and other types of pollution, particularly in the light of the bay's ecological importance. In May 1998, an
accident at the Acerinox plant
in
Los Barrios
, caused the release of a radioactive cloud. The radiation was not detected on site, but was eventually detected in
France
,
Italy
,
Switzerland
,
Germany
, and
Austria
. The radioactive levels measured were up to 142 times higher than normal.
[16]
Due to the large number of ships that transit the strait, there is always a danger of accidents and in recent years there have been a small number of sinkings, groundings and collisions in both Gibraltar and Spain resulting in oil spills (
New Flame
,
Spa Bunker IV
,
Samothraki
,
Sierra Nava
,
Tawe
and
Fedra
).
Last report of
Greenpeace
on the pollution in Spain targets the Bay of Gibraltar as suffering from "chronic pollution" due to hydrocarbons, not only as a result of accidents, but also as a consequence of regular unballast, ship-to-ship bunkering or tank cleaning operations.
[17]
During 2009, environmental organizations, both Spanish and Gibraltarian, have called the Tripartite Forum to implement measures to protect the Bay of Gibraltar.
[18]
[19]
A joint statement was issued by concerned environmental groups on both sides of the frontier in relation to the trilateral forum meeting held in 2009.
[11]
A report by the Gibraltar government in 2015 reported that the water body status of Gibraltar Coastal Waters was "good" for both ecological and chemical status.
[20]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Archived copy"
(PDF)
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 2012-10-12.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (
link
)
- ^
Gerry O'Reilly, "Gibraltar: Sovereignty Disputes and Territorial Waters", in
The Hydrographic Journal
No 95, January 2000
Archived
May 3, 2006, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"UN Law of the Seas website"
.
Archived
from the original on 2017-07-02
. Retrieved
2017-06-28
.
- ^
"LA Times article on Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes"
. 24 February 2012.
Archived
from the original on 2017-04-15
. Retrieved
2017-04-14
.
- ^
"Impressions of a course participant (Part 1)"
.
Archived
from the original on 2019-05-27
. Retrieved
2014-04-25
.
- ^
"Refinery "Gibraltar - San Roque"
"
. CEPSA.
Archived
from the original on 15 April 2017
. Retrieved
14 April
2017
.
- ^
"The Refinery Cepsa Gibraltar-San Roque accepted a total of 1.261 ships in 2015"
. El Estrecho. 24 January 2016.
[
permanent dead link
]
- ^
The CEPSA audit report
[
permanent dead link
]
(in Spanish)
- ^
The CEPSA refinery audit analysis by the ESG
[
permanent dead link
]
(in Spanish)
- ^
ESG Statement on audit
Archived
2011-07-23 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
a
b
Joint statement by groups
Archived
2011-07-23 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
a
b
Algeciras on the ascent
Archived
July 27, 2011, at the
Wayback Machine
, bunkerworld, May/June 2009.
- ^
Bunkering in Gibraltar
Archived
November 13, 2008, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"The Gibraltar Magazine February 2010"
. The Gibraltar Magazine. February 2010. p. 19.
Archived
from the original on 2017-04-15
. Retrieved
2017-04-14
.
- ^
"Methods of Supply"
. CAPSA.
Archived
from the original on 15 April 2017
. Retrieved
14 April
2017
.
- ^
"Acerinox accident - Cesium-137 contamination in Europe"
.
Archived
from the original on 2008-06-10
. Retrieved
2008-09-19
.
- ^
Informe Contaminacion en Espana
[
permanent dead link
]
, Greenpeace, May 2008.
- ^
Ecologistas de Espana y Gibraltar piden al Foro Tripartito un plan de accion para salvar la bahia
Archived
2009-11-16 at the
Wayback Machine
, Greenpeace, November 12, 2009 (Spanish)
- ^
Crisis ambiental y de salud en la bahia de Algeciras/bahia de Gibraltar. Demandas y propuestas para el Foro de Dialogo Tripartito
Archived
2009-07-31 at the
Wayback Machine
, June 2009 (in Spanish)
- ^
"Gibraltar River Basin Management Plan 2015 ? 2021"
(PDF)
. September 2015. p. 21.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on 2016-11-13
. Retrieved
2017-04-15
.
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