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Cod wars were a series of face-offs between NATO allies Iceland and Britain over the issue of Iceland's declaration on the portions of water off their coastline being their exclusive fishing zone, and the apparent overfishing of the cod fish. These face-offs begun during 1958, and continued sporadically till about 1976, and consisted mainly of net-cutting of British vessels by Icelandic guard vessels ,and British retaliation.
Prelude
The Cod fish, found abundantly in the Icelandic waters, was the main catch for the fishermen of Iceland; a country with little natural resources and whose economy was almost entirely dependent upon fishing. Heavy fishing by foreign fishermen had reduced the number of Cod fishes in the area by a large margin,
Earlier, in 1893, the Danish government, which ruled Iceland, announced a 13 nautical mile fishing limit, to which the British paid no heed, and continued to send their trawlers to Icelandic waters. Many incidents of arrest and confiscation occurred.
The First Cod War
The first Cod War started as soon as Iceland passed a new law that extended its fishery zone from 4 nautical miles to 12 nautical miles In reaction to this law, the British declared that their trawlers would continue fishing in Icelandic waters, with the protection of warships. They deployed a massive array of warships. Iceland, though significantly weaker, put up as good a defense as it could manage.
Many confrontations happened, and ultimately, an agreement was reached between the nations, stating that in future disputes over fishing zones would be sorted out by the International Court of Justice in Hague.
The Second Cod War
On September 1, 1972, Iceland started enforcing a law which increased its fishing boundary to 50 nautical miles. The currently governing Leftist coalition ignored the previous treaty involving the International Court of Justice – an agreement made by the previous center-right government. British trawlers continued to fish in Icelandic waters.
During these times the Icelandic Coast Guard started using the “net-cutter” - devices they used to cut nets of British fishing trawlers. Confrontations followed, and the NATO secretary-general sat in talk with Icelandic ministers, who wanted to leave NATO seeing its inability to help them in the situation.
After talks with NATO, British warships were recalled from Icelandic waters on 3rd October and on 8th November, an agreement was reached, limiting British fishing in Icelandic water to only certain areas within the 50nm limit, and their annual catch to not more than 130,000 tons, and the second Cod war ended.
The Third Cod War
The previous agreement expired on November 1975, and the third Cod war ensued. Iceland declared its authority on waters up to 200 miles of its coasts. British incursions into these areas continued, leading to more net-cutting incidents. The British retaliated by deploying a massive army of warships.
Iceland then threatened to close down its NATO base in Keflavik – a threat which has serious implications for NATO. Talks ensued, and ultimately the British government agreed to keep its fishermen out of the 200 nautical mile exclusion zone.
Later, in 1976 a compromise was reached, allowing an maximum of 24 British trawlers to fish in Icelandic waters. The Exclusive Economic Zone became internationally recognized on November 14, 1994.
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