economy rests on two major pillars: one, the extraction of living marine resources;
and the other formed by maritime transport and traffic.
Fishing is a traditional activity in the area and makes a contribution to the
economy that, while rather small in terms of the national economy, provides worth
for the local communities that are dependent upon it. It has become so important that
it has triggered several disputes between Spain and the Maghreb countries over the
use of certain waters and has impacted EU-third country treaties (with Morocco,
especially) and even the trade relationships between them. On numerous occasions,
the living resources, which are scarce and highly coveted by all the coastal States, are
a basis for sparking frequent North-South disputes (legal disputes, biological rest
periods, defense of fishing grounds regarded as belonging to one county or another, a
lack of agreements in affairs relating to fisheries management and exploitation etc.).
However, this is an even more serious matter in other Mediterranean sub-regions,
and it would seem that a certain climate of cooperation and agreement has been
achieved in the Alboran Sea.
Regarding the use of the Alboran Sea as an area for sea traffic, it must be said that
it is a privileged space with great importance in the world as far as maritime
communications are concerned. A large part of the traffic between the Middle East
and Asia and the Western world makes use of this area and the Strait of Gibraltar as a
key transit route. An additional function needs to be added, one that is secondary but
that has a major impact on the regional level: it connects the basin’s northern
(Europe) and southern areas (the Maghreb and the rest of Africa). So, along with
the traditional maritime traffic routes, there are other connections, in this case northsouth, which augur greater cooperation in the future and the generation of shared
economic interests. This is the fixed link project in the Strait, with electric power
lines across the Strait of Gibraltar and the current Maghreb-Europe gas pipelines.
One of these pipelines originates in the HassiR’mel gas fields in Algeria, goes
through Morocco and crosses the Strait (Martínez Díaz 1993), while the other,
which originates in the same fields, connect with Beni Saf (on the Algerian coast)
and from there crosses the seabed to Almeria (ERM Iberia, S.A. 2005).
It is clear that a space simultaneously overused by such a great variety of, in many
cases, incompatible activities is bound to be a flashpoint for a multitude of conflicts,
both between the different public and private users and between the various uses and
the marine environment. On top of the economic, environmental and spatial consequences produced by these marine uses on the local and basin levels, there is also a
more general feature: the existence of an economic ‘equator’ that splits the region
into two very distinct and contrasting areas from the point-of-view of their levels of
development. The responses to such circumstances can be, on some occasions, the
choice of economic nationalism and the preservation of spaces and resources that are
considered to be one’s own, and, on others, commitment to multilateral cooperation
and regional integration.
2 Regional Context and Maritime Governance
17
and the other formed by maritime transport and traffic.
Fishing is a traditional activity in the area and makes a contribution to the
economy that, while rather small in terms of the national economy, provides worth
for the local communities that are dependent upon it. It has become so important that
it has triggered several disputes between Spain and the Maghreb countries over the
use of certain waters and has impacted EU-third country treaties (with Morocco,
especially) and even the trade relationships between them. On numerous occasions,
the living resources, which are scarce and highly coveted by all the coastal States, are
a basis for sparking frequent North-South disputes (legal disputes, biological rest
periods, defense of fishing grounds regarded as belonging to one county or another, a
lack of agreements in affairs relating to fisheries management and exploitation etc.).
However, this is an even more serious matter in other Mediterranean sub-regions,
and it would seem that a certain climate of cooperation and agreement has been
achieved in the Alboran Sea.
Regarding the use of the Alboran Sea as an area for sea traffic, it must be said that
it is a privileged space with great importance in the world as far as maritime
communications are concerned. A large part of the traffic between the Middle East
and Asia and the Western world makes use of this area and the Strait of Gibraltar as a
key transit route. An additional function needs to be added, one that is secondary but
that has a major impact on the regional level: it connects the basin’s northern
(Europe) and southern areas (the Maghreb and the rest of Africa). So, along with
the traditional maritime traffic routes, there are other connections, in this case northsouth, which augur greater cooperation in the future and the generation of shared
economic interests. This is the fixed link project in the Strait, with electric power
lines across the Strait of Gibraltar and the current Maghreb-Europe gas pipelines.
One of these pipelines originates in the HassiR’mel gas fields in Algeria, goes
through Morocco and crosses the Strait (Martínez Díaz 1993), while the other,
which originates in the same fields, connect with Beni Saf (on the Algerian coast)
and from there crosses the seabed to Almeria (ERM Iberia, S.A. 2005).
It is clear that a space simultaneously overused by such a great variety of, in many
cases, incompatible activities is bound to be a flashpoint for a multitude of conflicts,
both between the different public and private users and between the various uses and
the marine environment. On top of the economic, environmental and spatial consequences produced by these marine uses on the local and basin levels, there is also a
more general feature: the existence of an economic ‘equator’ that splits the region
into two very distinct and contrasting areas from the point-of-view of their levels of
development. The responses to such circumstances can be, on some occasions, the
choice of economic nationalism and the preservation of spaces and resources that are
considered to be one’s own, and, on others, commitment to multilateral cooperation
and regional integration.
2 Regional Context and Maritime Governance
17