Cod wars facts for kids
Quick facts for kids First Cod War |
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| Part of the Cod Wars | |||||||||
 Coventry City and ICGV Albert off the Westfjords |
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| States involved | |||||||||
 Iceland |
 United Kingdom West Germany |
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| Strength | |||||||||
 Icelandic Coast Guard
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 Royal Navy
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| None | |||||||||
| a 3 by February 1960. | |||||||||
The Cod Wars, also called the Iceland Cod Wars (Icelandic: Þorskastríðin, "the cod wars", or Landhelgisstríðin, "the wars for the territorial waters") were a series of confrontations in the 1950s and 1970s between the United Kingdom and Iceland regarding fishing rights in the North Atlantic. The name of the conflict may be derived from a pun on the term "Cold War" (with "cod" reading so similarly to "cold"), possibly via the British tabloid press.
The First Cod War lasted from 1 September 1958 until 11 March 1961. It began as soon as a new Icelandic law that expanded the Icelandic fishery zone, from 4 to 12 nautical miles (7.4 to 22.2 km), came into force at midnight on 1 September 1958.
The Second Cod War between the United Kingdom and Iceland lasted from September 1972 until the signing of a temporary agreement in November 1973.
In 1972, Iceland unilaterally declared an Exclusive Economic Zone extending beyond its territorial waters, before announcing plans to reduce over-fishing. It policed its quota system with the coast guard, leading to a series of net-cutting incidents with British trawlers that fished the areas. As a result, a fleet of British Royal Naval warships and tug-boats was employed to act as a deterrent against any future harassment of British fishing crews by the Icelandic craft.
Explaining the Cod Wars
A 2016 review article finds that the underlying drivers behind the desire to extend fishery limits were economic and legal for Iceland, whereas they were economic and strategic for the United Kingdom. It however argues that "these underlying causes account for the tensions but are not enough to explain why bargaining failure occurred" – after all, the outbreak of each Cod War was costly and risky for both sides.
Legacy
The Cod Wars are often mentioned in Icelandic and British news-reporting when either state is involved in a fishery dispute or when there are disputes of some sort between Iceland and the UK.
In February 2017, the crews of two ships involved in the Cod Wars, the Hull trawler Arctic Corsair and the Icelandic patrolship Odinn, exchanged bells in a gesture of goodwill and sign of friendship between the cities of Hull and Reykjavík. The event was part of a project by Hull Museums on the history between Iceland and the United Kingdom during and after the Cod Wars.
Images for kids
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The primary objective of the Icelandic Coast Guard during the last two Cod Wars was to cut nets in this manner.
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The incident between V/s Þór and the British MAFF ships Lloydsman and Star Aquarius, as seen from an Icelandic maritime surveillance aircraft
See also
In Spanish: Guerras del Bacalao para niños
