thread:

COD PEACE

1. As certain European countries are claiming historic fishing rights in our waters, I'll do a thread on the legal position shortly, but first let's take a look how the law of the seas got us to where we are now & how natural resources are fiercely protected.

2. Britain spent 2 decades, on & off, in conflict with Iceland over fishing opportunities. Our Royal Navy became embroiled, protecting trawlers as they fished for cod around the Icelandic coast.

3. In 1944 Iceland annulled the Anglo-Danish Territorial Waters Agreement 1901, which had 7 yrs left to run. We retaliated, banning Icelandic vessels from our waters.

4. In the 1950's a country's exclusivity to fishing rights extended a mere 4 miles from its coastline. Iceland alleged that Britain was over-exploiting the fishing opportunites in the seas around Iceland & unilaterally extended its exclusive zone to 12 miles.

5. We ignored the new restrictions & along with RN support we continued to fish up to the 4 mile limit. Iceland were in no mood to be bullied & retaliated as best they could with their minimal military/coastal force.

6. We eventually accepted the new 12 mile limit until the early 70's when we joined the EEC & our own fishing resources were compromised by the Common Fisheries Policy. Iceland, mindful of what was about to happen, extended its exclusive zone from 12 to 50 miles.

7. Britain duly ignored the new restrictions & the situation turned ugly. RN ships were rammed by Icelandic coast guard boats. In 1973 the British trawler 'Brucella' refused to leave Icelandic waters & the coast guard opened fire.

8. The following year another British trawler was spotted in the 12 mile zone & was shelled by an Icelandic patrol boat. Iceland impounded the CS Forester & its skipper was jailed, but later released upon payment of a hefty fine.

9. Dispute settlement was effective for a while when we agreed a quota of 130,000 tons for a period of 2 yrs.

In 1975 Iceland unilaterally extended its exclusive fishing zone again, this time to 200 miles. Needless to say conflict kicked off again.

10. The RN had rammed Icelandic boats on more than 50 occasions, causing serious damage at times. Not to be bullied by a superior military power Iceland approached the US with an ultimatum: help or remove NATO from Iceland.

11. The US didn't want to lose its surveillance post on Russia, so stepped in to provide a diplomatic service in resolving the double decade cod wars.

12. The Icelandic cod wars led towards the formal creation of 200 mile Exclusive Economic Zones under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS).

13. In the next thread I'll set out why European countries asserting historic fishing rights have very little hope of success.

But I thought this thread would set the scene.

14. Incidentally the UK has recently become a member of the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission. I guess our previous behaviour is forgiven as Iceland were an existing member :-)