Re: French Fishermen attack our Boats
Originally Posted by
Uncle Joe
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Of course we didn't do the same to Iceland some years back. Remember the Cod wars???
Joe, there are some similarities but the circumstances vastly different as English and Scottish fishermen were fishing LEGALLY here.
The cod wars between Iceland and Britain occurred between 1950’s and 1970’s and happened because British fishermen had always fished in the cod rich waters off Iceland. There were no 200-mile fishing exclusion limits anywhere at that time. Iceland had a 2-mile zone in place.
Iceland started the Cod wars off by making a 12-mile zone which included the rich cod fishing, The spats happened because the British ignored this new zone as they thought it unfair. They even had British naval vessels supporting them. Then Iceland brought in a 50-mile exclusion zone which at the time cut the British fishing fleet’s ability to catch cod to severe cuts. There were many altercations between the Icelandic coast guard and British naval vessels as the coast guard attempted to cut British fishing nets.
The final spat which became quite serious occurred in the early 70’s I believe, when Iceland declared a 200-mile exclusion zone in which British naval vessels accompanied British trawlers inside the zone as Britain said the fishing rights should be decided diplomatically not by warfare on the seas, It was the USA who finally settled it with persuasion to the British to respect the exclusion zone as Iceland threatened to close the locally based American base which protected the Atlantic during the height of the Cold War. Of course, the 200-mile zone became the norm after that.
The decision by Britain to respect the 200-mile Icelandic exclusion zone resulted in devastating losses to ports such as Hull and Grimsby, with 1,500 fishing jobs and thousands of associated shore jobs lost forever. Scottish fishermen suffered very badly too.
On the other hand, Iceland, NOT PART OF THE EU, has thrived ever since, being renowned as one of the largest and wealthiest fisheries in the world!