Bay of Gibraltar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Bay of Gibraltar (also known as Gibraltar Bay, Algeciras Bay or the Bay of Algeciras; Spanish: Bahía de Algeciras) is a bay at the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula. It is around 10 km long by 8 km wide, covering an area of some 75 square kilometres, with a depth of up to 400 m 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 communities of Algeciras, Los Barrios, San Roque, La Línea de la Concepción and the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. The majority of the shoreline and most of the bay's surface area are Spanish territory, with part of the eastern bay being claimed by Gibraltar. The east and west entrances to the bay are marked respectively by the lighthouses of Europa Point in Gibraltar and Punta Carnero to the west of Algeciras.
The area around the bay is heavily industrialised with extensive petrochemical installations near San Roque and working ports in both Algeciras and Gibraltar. The bay's waters are used by a considerable quantity of heavy shipping, notably oil tankers and freighters. Due to this 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 (see below).
[edit] Ecology
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. 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.
[edit] History
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 Battle of Algeciras Bay (1801). During the Second World War, Italy launched human torpedoes in the bay on several occasions in attempts to sink British ships moored off Gibraltar, with mixed success.
More recently, there has been (and remains) a persistent dispute between Spain and Gibraltar over British sovereignty in the Bay of Gibraltar. Spain has never officially recognised British sovereignty in the area save for a small portion around the Port of Gibraltar, but the UK has claimed sovereignty over an extensive area stretching to approximately the middle of the bay. This has caused tensions between the two sides, especially over the issue of Spanish fishermen operating in what the Gibraltarians regard as their territorial waters.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ Gerry O'Reilly, "Gibraltar: Sovereignty Disputes and Territorial Waters", in The Hydrographic Journal No 95, January 2000
.jpg){kind=link}