West European Studies

The Cod Wars defines a series of conflicts that existed between the United Kingdom and Iceland. These conflicts started from the mid 1950s and extended to the mid 1970s. There were three Cod Wars that took place in 1958, 1973 and 1975. It is believed that the main reason as to why these wars took place was that Iceland was concerned about the Cod fish stock which was continuously being depleted by overfishing which was done by United Kingdom.
The main reason why Iceland was so concerned is that it had very few resources at the time and these resources were in the agriculture, timber, mineral deposits and fuel. This means that it had to look for another alternative form of resources and the only available resource was the Cod fish. It had to therefore rely heavily on the stock of Cod fish and it would do anything to protect this industry.
Looking at the first Cod War, it is said to have taken place in 1958. Since Iceland depended on fishing as its main source of income at the time, it saw it necessary to expand its fishing ground. It therefore decided to expand its fishing ground from the four mile mark to the twelve mile mark off its coast. This was against the agreement that existed between Iceland and United Kingdom. During this time, the United Kingdom tried to stop Iceland from extending this limit but they were unable to do so. This is believed to be the cause of the first Cod War as the United Kingdom would not allow Iceland to extend its fishing limits this far. This was not the end, later on in 1972, Iceland is said to extend its boundaries up to 50 miles in radius. The United Kingdom would not allow this and therefore, there was a hostile response from them and all the other nations fishing in the area and this was the origin of the second Cod War. This war did not last for long and it was ended by an agreement that was signed between the United Kingdom and Iceland in 1973. This agreement allowed British to fish in some areas in the 50 mile radius that Iceland had extended. Even though there was an agreement that vessel from Britain would go into the waters of Iceland, there was also another agreement that these vessels should not fish more than one hundred and twenty tones of fish from this region. The agreement was also supposed to be valid for two years and therefore, it expired in 1975. This meant that after the expiry of the agreement, the United Kingdom would like to regains some of the 50 miles that it had lost to Iceland. On the other hand, Iceland would not allow this to happen and as a result, there was some conflict that came up. In addition to this expiry of the agreement, Iceland is said to have made some further extension of the fishing area from the then 50 miles to 200 miles off its shore. There is no way that the United Kingdom would agree on this and therefore, the third Cod War started there. However, this war is said to have had more impact that the other two and it involved the United States mediating over the two countries thereby allowing Iceland to have the 200 mile radius as a requirement by the international bodies.
It can be argued that Iceland won in this battle as at the end of the day, they had the 200 mile radius fishing area. The main reason as to why Iceland won the battle is that it had more support from the international bodies than the United Kingdom. In addition, the United Kingdom may be blamed for the start of the third Cod War as it refused to comply with the requirement by the international bodies such as the United Nations. There is an international requirement that allows a country to fish in a radius of 200 miles for economic purposes. Therefore, it was obvious that Iceland was on the right while the United Kingdom was on the wrong.
Apart from this, Iceland is said to have threatened to close down the NATO base that was located in Keflavik. During that time, this closure would have some serious effects on the world peace and therefore there was a need to act on this matter. In addition, due to this threat, the United Nations had to act on its favor as this was the only way that it would prevent Iceland from closing down this base. These are said to be the main reasons as to why Iceland won in these wars. Most people in Iceland have very positive attitude towards the Cod Wars. Majority of them see it as a necessary step that was supposed to be taken so that they can save their country from poverty. It is out of this war that Iceland had been able to grow economically as it was able to increase its stock through more areas of fishing. Increased fishing through the Cod Wars may be termed as the backbone of the economy of Iceland. With very few economic opportunities, it was extremely necessary for Iceland to maximize on fishing as this seemed as the main source of their income. Therefore, they had to do all that they can so that they can increase or maximize on this resource. The War was the only way out as Britain would not agree to part with the waters just like that. The Cod Wars were therefore necessary for Iceland as they are the ones which determined its economic prosperity.