Morocco Pressures Melilla Boaters, Forcing Retreat from Moroccan Waters

For some time now, boat owners in Melilla have started to increasingly abandon Moroccan waters and prefer, as a precautionary measure, not to venture more than 500 meters from Spanish waters. The some 80 boats from Melilla that are used to sailing along the Moroccan coast did not go there last weekend, believes El Faro de Melilla.

The reason is the harassment of Moroccan patrol boats. Melilla boat owners no longer want to have any problems with them, simply because no one has ever filed a complaint about the harassment of Moroccan patrol boats. According to the same source, Morocco’s objective is clear: to force pleasure boats registered in Melilla to moor at the port of Atalayoun.

Mooring a boat in Melilla costs around 100 to 120 euros per month (for a boat 5 to 6 meters long), while it can cost 400 euros in a port on the peninsula like Fuengirola or Marbella. Deputy Fernando Gutiérrez Díaz de Otazu in Congress recently denounced, on behalf of the 397 boat owners in Melilla, the harassment of Moroccan patrol boats.