The Cod Wars
Standing aboard the rocking boat you watch as the winch slowly pulls the weighted net up from the ocean floor. Just before the massive catch reaches the surface you can see several small fish thrashing and jumping out of the water, then you see the real prize. The giant yet docile cod breach the surface and as the net hauls them aboard you start sorting and throwing them into their respective holds. For several minutes you concentrate on nothing but the slippery cod when out of nowhere you hear a loud siren pierce the thick fog surrounding you, just as you look up you hear a massive BOOM and see something shoot across the bow.
Drawing by an Icelander commemorating the Cod War. Courtesy of the Reykjavik Grapevine.
Cod and its Importance
There are several types of cod that live in both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, from the large six foot ones found off the Massachusetts coast to the small eight inch ones found in the Arctic. However this article will be focusing on the North Atlantic variety. The cod that are found there are rather large with the ability to reach lengths of over six feet and weights in excess of 200 pounds. They can live upwards of 20 years in the wild, breeding for most of their lives. The skin on their top and sides is spotted and ranges in color from green, brown, and yellow with white underbellies. Cod prefer to live in waters between mid 30° and low 40° Fahrenheit, but they can survive in below freezing temperatures by producing a natural form of antifreeze that allows their blood to continue flowing in such cold environments. As long as the cod is in the water this natural chemical works but once they are out it can not. There are stories of fishermen pulling cod out of below freezing water and watching the fish immediately freeze solid.
Picture of a North Atlantic cod. Courtesy of Oceana.org.
Cod have three distinct dorsal fins on the top of their body, a feature not seen in hardly any other fish, and two on the bottom that are used to keep them stable while swimming. They also have a whisker like protrusion that extends from the bottom of their chin that helps them sense the sea bottom. Cod live close to the ocean floor and generally swim with their mouth wide open for feeding. Though cod will eat almost anything that will fit down their gullet they prefer to eat other aquatic animals such as lobsters, shrimp, smaller fish, and even juvenile cod.
Drawing of a North Atlantic cod by Brenda G. Gillespie. Courtesy of ThisFish.
Female cod lay over 9 million eggs but very few of these actually live to maturity as the eggs are vulnerable to other animals that see them as an easy food source and can even be disturbed by heavy storms. If/when the cod do hatch they then have to survive being eaten by other predators such as seals, birds, and lobsters. However once a cod reaches two years old it is likely to survive through to its lifespan as its only natural predators are large sharks and some whales. Hands down its biggest predator is man.
This humble fish has impacted humanity more than most people will ever know. It has been highly sought after for centuries as it contains nearly no fat and can be easily preserved through air drying, salt is oftentimes used to help with preservation and once it is added it can stay good for years so long as it is kept in a cool dry place. This made cod an excellent stockfish that could be kept on ships and used on long sea voyages, nearly every country used to stock their naval ships with salt cod. Cod aided much of European exploration as it allowed sailors to travel farther and longer since it was a reliable food source resistant to spoilage.
Dried stockfish. Courtesy of Wikiwand.
Cod fed many populations as it became a popular food among several European cultures and was given to slaves on sugar cane plantations. Those who fished for and sold cod rarely had difficulty finding a buyer and many influential people, especially in North America, made their fortunes from cod. John Adams in particular reaped huge profits by trading cod to plantations in the Southern colonies in exchange for sugar that he would then sell to distillers in Northern colonies. Money made from the fish even helped spurn the American revolution as the colonists realized that they did not need help from their home country and made more than enough money to be independent. However there is one country in particular that even in the modern day relies heavily on cod.
Cape Cod was one of the largest exporters of cod during colonial times. Courtesy of Weather Underground.
Iceland and Britain
Iceland is a cold rocky volcanic island in the Atlantic Ocean that contains a multitude of fjords and lies just over 40 kilometers from the Arctic Circle. The land is mostly barren with the only arable land being close to the shore, few crops are even able to grow here with the short growing season. While there are some farmers that raise sheep the majority of its inhabitants make their money by fishing for the cod that inhabits the waters all around them. Due to this reliance most of their national dishes are comprised of cod and they have figured out how to eat the fish in almost every way imaginable. Cod is the focal point of the Icelandic economy, the nation would not be able to survive without it.
Iceland’s rocky coast. Courtesy of the Medievalists.
In 1397 Iceland came under Danish rule and was forbidden from trading with any other country, by 1532 the British were no longer allowed on the island and Iceland lost almost all contact with the outside world. The Danes were not particularly focused on Iceland so there were not many trade choices even with their ruling country. All this caused Iceland to be a poor nation for centuries.
Icelandic fishing boat in the 1800s. Courtesy of ABC.
However this isolation also helped Iceland preserve many of its traditions, including how they fished. Icelanders used the traditional practice known as “handlining”. This was a method where a fisherman would throw a long line with a weighted lure resembling a small fish into the water, this lure then descended to the depths that cod inhabit. Since cod live in large schools and swim with their mouths open it did not take long for one to swallow the lure, when the fisherman felt a tug on his line he would yank hard to ensure the hook was stuck in the fish. After that it was just a matter of pulling the cod up, the fish does not fight but merely goes with the flow making it easy on fishermen.
Icelandic fisherman’s hut in the 1800s. Public Domain.
In 1874, Iceland gained home rule from Denmark but since they were so poor they were not able to find many countries willing to do trade. However since cod was abundant and there were always buyers for it they were able to make some deals, particularly with Great Britain.
Britain is a sharp contrast to Iceland, having a large population and able to sustain agriculture they are much more economically diverse than the smaller island nation. Still the British diet was, and still is, heavily sea based with many making their living as fishermen. When the industrial revolution occurred fishing boats in Britain and other parts of Europe became larger and more efficient. By the turn of the century they developed a new type of fishing called “trawling”, the new boats made for this type of work being called trawlers. Trawlers dragged nets close to the bottom of the seafloor, scooping up any fish in its path. While some nets had larger holes in them to allow smaller fish to pass through once the net was full of larger fish nothing could escape its path. This new efficiency began to deplete fish stocks in the waters around Britain so fishermen had to begin fishing further away from their home country.
Fishing trawler 1900s. Courtesy of Fishing News.
The British soon developed a distant-water fishing fleet that would travel to places like Iceland to trawl for cod. After the British fleets with their more efficient equipment arrived the Icelanders quickly began seeing a drop in the numbers of cod. The Icelandic people, using their traditional handlining methods, had to work much harder to catch the same amount of fish that they did in years prior. Unfortunately Iceland was still part of Denmark so they could not negotiate with Britain by themselves, but fortunately for the small island a not so small event would occur that drastically altered their course.
World War Two was a godsend for Iceland and its cod stocks for three major reasons. First, the British Royal Navy requisitioned all of the boats in the distant water fishing fleet to be used for the war effort, causing the cod stock to grow. Second, Denmark was taken over by Germany and the allies did not want Iceland taken over too so they garrisoned their own soldiers there. This had a two fold effect, it allowed for Iceland to gain its independence once the war was over and it made the country more known to the outside world. The third and final reason the war was good for Iceland was because every other country was so occupied with fighting that no one was doing any fishing. This made Iceland the top exporter of cod and made the once impoverished country into a very rich nation almost overnight.
British troops in Iceland. Courtesy of Iceland Monitor.
The Four Mile Limit
In the early 1950s the British began to revamp their distant water fishing fleet, sending larger and more efficient trawlers to fish the Icelandic waters. The British saw no issue with this as they believed in the freedom of the high seas, an idea that the ocean was an open source, free for any country to exploit with no one having specific ownership of. After World War 2 however, this idea would be challenged as more and more nations claimed territorial rights on the waters surrounding their country.
A trawler protection ship. Courtesy of Roll of Honour.
When Iceland gained its independence from Denmark in 1944 they annulled the Anglo-Danish Territorial Water Agreement of 1901 that had restricted territorial waters to within three miles of a nation's coast. They wanted to extend the limit to four miles, prohibiting foreign ships from commercially fishing within this boundary. This decision was made because Iceland was starting to worry about it’s depleting fish stock and were trying to preserve what it had for its citizens. The British did not agree with this new limit and continued fishing within four miles of the Icelandic coast, so Iceland began arresting and seizing the trawlers. The British government opened a case against Iceland and took it before the International Court of Justice. Unfortunately for Britain they lost the case with the court ruling in favor of Iceland, saying that it was in the locals best interest to protect their waters. After a decision by the Organisation of European Economic Co-operation in 1956, Britain had to permanently concede to Iceland’s four-mile limit. The United States unknowingly helped Iceland's argument, in 1945 they wanted to protect offshore oil production so President Harry Truman claimed that any natural resource on a country's continental shelf was theirs and had sole ownership of it. It was a far out idea that some nations bucked at the time as no one had ever claimed ownership of an entire continental shelf before, but it would catch on in time.
In response to the limit the British banned Iceland from landing fish in Britain. With Britain being the largest buyer of Icelandic cod they believed this would cause a considerable blow to the Icelandic economy, but it backfired as the USSR agreed to buy up the cod that was no longer being sold. This first fight for cod was only the beginning as it would continue to be a great point of contention between the two countries and cause a bitter dispute that would last for years.
A diagram showing the different extensions made by Iceland. Courtesy of the British Seafishing Co.
The First Cod War
In 1958 the United Nations held the first International Conference on the Law of the Sea in order to make rules and regulations for every country to follow in regards to the seas and oceans, around this same time Iceland was once again starting to see a decline in its cod population. During this conference many nations proposed extending the standard limit of territorial waters to 12 miles. While nothing concrete was decided it gave Iceland enough of a reason to extend their four mile limit even further, so on September 1, 1958 the government of Iceland declared an extension of its territorial waters from 4 to 12 miles. Britain refused to recognize this new limit and continued to fish within 12 miles of Iceland's coast, though no closer than four. Britain had the backing of almost every Western country as no one had ever claimed that much water as their own before, but Iceland’s Coast Guard began harassing British fishing vessels anyway.
The Icelandic Thor Coast Guard vessel. Courtesy of Nat.is.
Iceland’s Coast Guard was not large, only consisting of seven ships that had one gun each. The men who manned them were not trained for war but were incredibly experienced seamen, most of them having been on boats since they were children. In response to the Coast Guards harassment Britain sent four Royal Navy ships to protect their trawlers, frigates HMS Eastbourne, HMS Russell, and HMS Palliser and minesweeper HMS Hound. Once the ships arrived they made the trawlers fish in a 30 mile long rectangular box that was easy to patrol and defend. Unfortunately for the trawlers this severely hampered their fishing capabilities, causing them to not bring in nearly as much cod as they had previously.
The HMS Hound. Public Domain.
Not long after the British ships arrived confrontations with the Icelandic Coast Guard began. Skipper Jim Crockwell and his men aboard the trawler Northern Foam were some of the first to witness one of these incidents. Icelandic Coast Guard vessel V/s Þór (pronounced V/S Thor), the largest of Iceland’s Coast Guard vessels, pulled up along Crockwell’s boat and boarded it. In an interview with The Guardian Crockwell explained what happened, “The officer in charge of the boarding party came on to the bridge and said, ‘Skipper, I advise you to go on board the gunboat.’ I told him I was not going anywhere. Another officer came on to the bridge and said to me, Skipper, have you got secret paper? ‘ I said ‘Yes.’ He held out his hand and said, ‘I want them.’ I said, ‘Go jump in the ocean and get lost.’” While Crockwell argued with the Icelandic officer the trawlers radio operator, Ted Armstrong, locked himself in the cabin with the radio and began relaying messages to HMS Hound about what was going on. Hound then informed HMS Eastbourne who went to confront the Icelandic vessel, the crew on board the trawler tried to stall while the warship made its way there. In his recounting Crockwell noted that everyone was nice and that they even “swapped a yarn or two with them” while waiting. When the Icelandic crew saw the Eastbourne appear out of the fog they made plans to turn their boat about and ram it. Crockwell asked the officer in charge if they were going somewhere. Crockwell then stated that “if looks could have killed I would have dropped dead.” Commenting on the hilarity of the situation Crockwell went on to say, “That officer, by the way, was wearing dungarees and a stocking cap.” However before Thor could go through with its ramming a party from Eastbourne boarded the trawler, Crockwell saying that the Icelandic officer commented “Hitler is coming” as they came aboard. The officer went on to bet Crockwell a dollar that they would still be seizing his boat despite the Royal Navy showing up. The British sailors however, who were better armed and had more men, made the Icelanders go back to their ship and leave the trawler alone. Everyone was civil however as Crockwell said that “There was no force used.” During the recounting Crockwell remarked “I forgot to ask him [the Icelandic officer] for the dollar”.
The HMS Eastbourne. Courtesy of Public Domain.
As more confrontations like this occurred the Royal Navy sent more resources to deal with the situation, in total there would be 37 ships and roughly 7,000 men sent to protect the trawlers. Another instance that happened in November of 1958 saw the Thor fire a warning shot at the British trawler Hackness, the fishing vessel radioed the British Navy and soon warship HMS Russell came to its assistance. Russell pointed out that the trawler was beyond the four mile limit, the limit the British recognized, but Thor would not give in and continued to attempt to enforce the 12 mile limit. Thor’s captain ordered his men to man the ships guns and approach the British trawler. Russell then told them in no uncertain terms that if they tried to sink or seize the trawler then they would be fired upon. With HMS Russell being larger and having more guns Thor was no match and a standoff ensued. The Icelandic vessel eventually retreated when more British warships arrived. In the two and a half year long Cod War the Icelandic Coast Guard was only able to seize one foreign vessel, but no one can say that it was from a lack of trying.
HMS Russell. Courtesy of Maritime Quest.
By 1961 the situation had worsened as clashes continued and the Icelandic people grew more hostile to the British, holding protests and taunting the British ambassador when he travelled to the country. The Royal Navy being deployed was also becoming expensive and was hampering the trawlers effectiveness at catching fish. The UN had another International Conference on the Law of the Sea in 1960 and 1961, gaining more support for a further territorial waters limit. However Iceland began to threaten to leave NATO if Britain would not concede to their 12 mile limit. Pressure was put on Britain by other nations and they soon agreed to respect the limit with some concessions, mainly that some British trawlers would be allowed inside the new zone for the first three years after the agreement.
British propaganda during the Cod War. Courtesy of Aaron Cripps Blog.
The Second Cod War
In 1970 the European Economic Community (EEC) created a Common Fisheries Policy that stated that any member countries would have equal access to all community members waters after a 10 year period. The fishing industry in both Iceland and Britain agreed that this policy would only hurt them, but the then Prime Minister, Edward Heath, wanted Britain to join the EEC and would not allow this to prevent them from joining. Iceland would not join and instead implemented a new 50-mile territorial limit in September of 1972, citing further declining fish stock. The British and West Germans, now partners in the EEC, tried to bring the matter before an international court but Iceland refused to participate. Using the United States oil ownership argument, Iceland said that the waters and fish were on their continental shelf, therefore it was their natural resource and did not fall under the jurisdiction of the international courts.
One of the cutters used by Iceland during the Cod War. Public Domain.
This resulted in a second Cod War in which Iceland used special “cutters” to destroy the trawlers fishing nets. These cutters were four pronged claws that had a sharpened section inside each prong. They would be dragged behind a boat and across a trawlers fishing line, when the claw caught the line it would cut it thereby severing the net from the boat. All seven Coast Guard vessels were equipped with this cutter and were able to use it quite effectively. A usual approach went like this, an Icelandic Coast Guard vessel would approach a trawler that was within the 50-mile zone and tell them to leave. If the trawler left everything was fine, if not the Icelandic crew would quickly deploy the cutter and sever the lines to the trawlers net, causing them to lose it and all contents that might have been in it. This was a great loss to the fishermen as each net cost upwards of $5,000 and with no way to catch fish all they could do was return home. During the year long conflict Iceland’s Coast Guard was able to cut 84 nets, 69 British and 15 West German.
Diagram showing how the cutter worked. Courtesy of Iceland Mag.
The trawlers tried to defend against the cutters by fishing in pairs, one catching fish while the other watching for the Coast Guard. However this did not work well as the ocean in this region is rough and gale force winds of 60 miles per hour are common, causing several trawlers that were too close together to collide with one another. Of course this also cut the fleets effectiveness as only half of them were now catching fish. The Coast Guard vessels and trawlers were seen constantly dodging and darting at one another, either trying to cut a net or prevent one from being cut. Both sides soon turned to ramming but the trawlers could not stand up to the heavy steel reinforced Coast Guard hulls that were made for ice breaking operations. Since Iceland and Britain were now NATO allies Britain did not want to send warships this time and instead sent large tugboats to try and block the cutters from reaching the nets. Iceland claimed they were sent to ram their vessels but Britain flatly denied this. No matter what the tugboats orders were they did end up ramming some of Iceland's boats.
One of the Icelandic Coast Guard vessels facing off against a tugboat and trawler. Courtesy of Aaron Cripps Blog.
After the tugboats arrived Iceland began being more assertive. On March 18, 1973 one of the Coast Guard vessels fired live shells across the bow of a British tug, meant as a warning shot. A few months later on May 26 one of the Icelandic vessels hit one of the British trawlers hulls and blew a hole in it. All of the trawlers then retreated beyond the 50 mile mark and refused to return until the Royal Navy sent ships to protect them. Seven frigates were sent and again the trawlers had to fish in box formations. If one of the Icelandic vessels entered this box, all ships in the area were to ram it until it sank, though none ever were. Remarkably no one was hurt beyond some minor cuts and bruises during all this, ships would ram one another and once they had enough they would limp back to port for repairs, only to do it all over again the next time.
An Icelandic vessel confronting a trawler. Courtesy of Sturlast on Youtube.
Iceland became increasingly unwelcome towards its ally turned adversary, not allowing any injured British or German fishermen to come to Iceland for medical treatment unless the trawler itself would come to port, of course the trawler would then be immediately seized by Icelandic authorities. If the trawlers needed help they would have to sail all the way back to their home ports. The country even bared British NATO planes from using their air traffic control when landing. This dispute however would gain much more international attention than the previous two. The United States was particularly concerned as it had a joint US/NATO base in Keflavik, Iceland and they were worried that the country might approach the USSR for help with taking on Britain. Despite some pressure from the international community Iceland refused to give up its fight, claiming it was fighting against imperialism and for economic freedom. Fortunately the issue was resolved in October 1973 when representatives from the disputing countries agreed to allow a limited number of British fishing vessels to operate within the 50 mile limit for the next two years.
A close up of the cutter’s cutting edge. Courtesy of Reykjavik.com.
The Third Cod War
In 1974 Iceland once again began seeing a decline in the number of cod they were catching. In 1975 the United Nations held another Conference of the Law on the Sea where it was seen that many nations were eager to extend their territorial claims to a 100 mile limit. In May of that year Iceland declared a 200 mile territorial limit to its waters. It is worth noting that cod stock had dramatically decreased around Iceland and they were only attempting to protect the single resource that their entire economy relied upon. Of course the British did not see it this way and absolutely refused to accept this limit, leading to a third Cod War.
The HMS Yarmouth displaying damage sustained during the third Cod War. Public Domain.
This third war was the shortest but perhaps most action packed of the bunch. In December of 1975 one of the British tugboats was fired upon twice by a Coast Guard vessel, though neither hit. Within just five months there were 35 instances of ramming and the Coast Guard cut 55 trawler nets, 46 British and 9 West German. As Mark Kurlansky put it, “Both sides were becoming practiced in the arcane skill of friendly naval battles.” Iceland’s Coast Guard began seizing ships again and the Royal Navy was called in one further time to protect its trawlers. To make matters worse Iceland refused to negotiate despite meetings between foreign ambassadors and prime ministers, cutting diplomatic ties with Britain altogether. Once again Iceland threatened to leave NATO so member countries stepped in, seeing that the “friendly” naval battles could turn hostile. Iceland asserted itself to the international community and Britain had to cave to their demands.
The HMS Scylla colliding with the Icelandic Coast Guard vessel Odinn. Courtesy of British Sea Fishing.
Afterward
Despite Britain not being nearly as economically dependent on cod as Iceland it still felt an impact. The closure of Icelandic fishing grounds meant that their long-distance fishing fleet was effectively done for, leaving thousands of skilled fisherman and others related to the fishing industry unemployed. A depression settled over the Northern parts of the United Kingdom, particularly the port cities of Grimsby, Hull, and Fleetwood that had made much of their money from the fishing trade.
HMS Falmouth showing damage taken during the third Cod War. Courtesy of Mike McBride.
Iceland’s 200 mile limit soon became the standard for countries around the world, ending most long distance fishing. Unfortunately this did not have much of an impact on cod numbers as Iceland and other countries began using their own trawlers and more and more fish were caught every year. In 1998, cod was placed on the endangered species list and is now heavily regulated with limits on how many fish can be caught. Today cod has been bumped down from endangered to vulnerable but many areas that relied on fishing are still economically depressed as they wait for cod stocks to fully replenish. Luckily there have been successful attempts at farming cod and wild cod numbers are steadily growing. Perhaps one day cod will once again be in abundance and people will be able to catch them while also limiting their hauls to ensure a healthy population.
A North Atlantic cod. Courtesy of the National Geographic Society.
Personal Thoughts
I’ve been wanting to do an article on the Cod Wars for a while but I really wanted to do it right and have good sources. This past week or two I have become obsessed with reading about cod, I don’t know why I just have, and I found some good sources and even ordered and read Mark Kurlansky’s book about cod. I enjoy cod, I like eating it and fish and chips is one of my favorite meals, I just wanted to learn more about it. Plus these “wars” were interesting. I feel like I have to side with Iceland in this case since it is what their entire economy was based off of. I do understand the British position. Really I just wish all countries could have worked together to prevent overfishing and using trawlers because they really devastated the ecosystem. I think there needs to be a lot more conservation focused on the oceans in general.
Sources
Cover photo courtesy of Lock and Learn
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/themes/cod-wars.htm
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-were-cod-wars
https://www.theguardian.com/business/from-the-archive-blog/2018/sep/07/first-cod-war-iceland-britain-fish-1958
https://oceana.org/marine-life/ocean-fishes/atlantic-cod
Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/atlantic-cod
https://www.iceland.is/the-big-picture/nature-environment/geography
