New light has been shone on the problem of fishermen and other boat users getting access to the water around Pembroke to load and offload their boats.

There was an agreement for the public to have access to moorings at Spanish Point some 50 years ago, but the deal was never written down in black and white and as a consequence can no longer be proved, according to Island senior Nelda Dyer.

Mrs. Dyer contacted after reading an article about fishermen?s calls for a proper public dock in Pembroke.

One area that has been disputed in the past is Spanish Point, which had a dock area and slip used by the public before the building of the Spanish Point Boat Club.

When the club was built there around 50 years ago there was, according to Mrs. Dyer who lived in the neighbourhood at the time, an agreement that there would always be free access to the dock and slip. ?I spent about 50 years at Spanish Point and when they built the club the Government gave them permission to use it if the people of Spanish Point could always pull up their boats. But it was not put in black and white, it was just word of mouth because we always trusted each other then,? said Mrs. Dyer, who now lives in Smith?s.

Many fishermen have joined the Spanish Point Boat Club in order to get rights to use the dock on the premises, while the club gives launching and landing public access to the slip upon request.

The club?s honorary commodore Michael Barnes said an agreement with the government in the 1960s gave the club the right to have its own private dock.

A number of fishermen in the parish have called for a proper public dock to be created because the dock at Albuoy?s Point in Hamilton is difficult to use due to restricted parking and it also doesn?t have a slip. Mrs. Dyer said: ?There was a wooden jetty at Boss?s Cove we all used to use and that was given to the Admiralty people in those days. But then it was sold. My son has some moorings there but he can?t get out that way because no one will let him get to the waterside.? has asked Government to comment on the issue of creating another public dock in Pembroke, and any public rights surrounding Spanish Point, but has so far had no reply.