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Fisheries Dispute. - Continuation of Incidents Between Icelandic Gunboats and British and West German Trawlers, March-July, 1973

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Fisheries Dispute. - Continuation of Incidents Between Icelandic Gunboats and British and West German Trawlers, March-July, 1973 Keesing's Record of World Events (formerly Keesing's Contemporary Archives), Volume 19, August, 1973 Iceland, Icelandic, Page 26028 © 1931-2006 Keesing's Worldwide, LLC - All Rights Reserved. Fisheries Dispute. - Continuation of Incidents between Icelandic Gunboats and British and West German Trawlers, March-July, 1973. - Further Unsuccessful Talks between U.K. and Icelandic Governments. - Naval Support for British Trawlers within 50-mile Limit. - British White Paper on Dispute. Related Developments. The conflict between Iceland on the one hand and the United Kingdom and Western Germany on the other hand over the Icelandic Government's unilateral extension of the country's fishery limits from 12 to 50 miles[see 25234 A], which had continued throughout 1972 and early 1973,[see 25869 A], persisted during the period from March to July 1973. In early March Icelandic gunboats resumed their harassment of British and West German trawlers continuing to fish within the 50-mile limit, and in May the British Government decided to grant direct naval protection to British trawlers within the disputed limit. Meanwhile, a further round of ministerial talks between the British and Icelandic Governments failed to produce a solution to the dispute. The Icelandic gunboats, which during the six weeks from Jan. 23 had been employed on rescue and salvage work in connexion with the eruption of the Helgafell volcano on the island of Heimaey, in the Westman Islands[see 25891 A], on March 5 resumed their harassment of British trawlers fishing within the 50-mile limit. A total of eight incidents in which the warps of British trawlers were cut or damaged by Icelandic gunboats were reported on March 5–6, while on the night of March 5–6 the Icelandic gunboat Aegir fired two blank shots at the British trawler Brucella, which, it was claimed, was attempting to ram her; it was reported that shortly after the last-mentioned incident the British support tug Statesman severed the cutting gear of the Aegir and recovered it from the sea. A further warp-cutting incident occurred on March 7. Lady Tweedsmuir of Belhelvie, Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and principal British negotiator in the previous talks between the British and Icelandic Governments, formally protested on March 6 to the Icelandic Ambassador in London, Hr. Niels Sigurdsson, at this resumption of harassment, while these recent developments were also the subject of a statement in the House of Commons by Sir Alec Douglas-Home, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary, on March 7. Sir Alec, who announced that the British Ambassador in Reykjavik was delivering a formal Note of protest to the Icelandic Government, said: “I am today sending a message to the Icelandic Foreign Minister reminding him of my proposal to him of Jan. 22 that discussions should be resumed, and I am asking him now to set a date for this, since it is obviously intolerable that the present situation should continue. I am also reminding him that the British Government have all along made it clear that we are ready to take whatever action is necessary, including the use of the Royal Navy to protect British trawlers.” Mr. Anthony Crosland (Lab.), M.P. for Grimsby, said: “This is a deplorable and extremely dangerous escalation of the cod war is particularly deplorable in the light of the repeated judgments of the International Court…. Those who[M.P.S] represent fishing ports have been very restrained about demanding the involvement of the Navy…. It has been our view that the Navy should go in only as a last resort…. We would like the tugboat solution to succeed…. If this peaceful and moderate attitude is to succeed[Foreign Secretary], the must now plan to bring in at least four or five more tugboats.” Sir Alec, replying, said: “I will certainly consider the possibility of increasing the number of tugs…. I am sure that the policy of restraint has been right up to now. There is a limit to patience. The Icelandic Government had better know it.” Hr. Hannes Jonsson, the Icelandic Government spokesman, stated on March 8, however, that Iceland had shown “great patience” with “piracy” by British trawlers fishing within the 50-mile limit, and declared that Icelandic vessels would continue to cut the trawl lines of British craft deemed to be fishing “illegally “. Incidents continued to occur within the 50-mile limit throughout March and April and were the subject of repeated protests to the Icelandic Government by Mr. John McKenzie, the British Ambassador in Iceland. The most notable incidents are summarized below. On the night of March 12–13 the Grimsby trawlers Arsenal and Aldershot collided, apparently while attempting to avoid the Aegir, which was trying to cut their trawl wires; no injuries were caused, although both trawlers were damaged. The British Trawlers’ Federation, which maintained that this was the first time an Icelandic gunboat had attacked the fishing gear of British trawlers by night, described the action of the Aegir as “a new and dangerous tactic”; the Icelandic Ambassador, however, denied that Icelandic patrol boats had been involved. In an incident some 20 miles off the north-west coast of Iceland on March 18 the first live warning shots to be used in the “cod war” were fired across the bow of the Statesman by the gunboat Odinn. According to the Icelandic Coastguard, the two shots had been fired after the Statesman had “repeatedly tried to ram the patrol ship and ignored all international sailing rules “. Hr. Hafstein Hafsteinsson, a spokesman for the Coastguard, maintained on March 19 that the British trawlers had adopted” a new tactic of ramming, beginning about the middle of last week “, and described two further incidents which had allegedly followed the clash between the Statesman and the Odinn on March 18–19. Mr. Julian Amery, Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, maintained, however, in a statement in the House of Commons on March 19 that throughout the previous day the Odinn had been harassing a group of British trawlers fishing about 20 to 30 miles off the north coast of Iceland, while the Statesman had been engaged on her normal task of protecting the trawlers against harassment. Odinn had then fired two live rounds across the bows of the Statesman, which was about half-way between the trawlers and the gunboat and steering a course parallel to the latter; at no time did she approach closer than about 100 yards to the Odinn. “I am satisfied,’ said Mr. Amery, “that there is no foundation for the Icelandic allegation that Statesman tried to ram the gunboat.” Live warning shots were also fired by the Aegir across the bows of the Brucella on March 25 and the support tug Englishman on April 2 after the British vessels had allegedly attempted to ram the Icelandic gunboat, while blank warning shots were fired on a number of occasions on March 26 and April 12 in the course of skirmishes after trawlers’ wires had been severed or clipped. The British Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food announced on April 16 that the Government had chartered the Lloydsman (2,041 tons), described in press reports as Britain's largest, fastest and most powerful tug, to assist the Statesman and Englishman in protecting British trawlers within the disputed 50-mile limit. The Lloydsman, which like the other two support tugs is owned by United Towing of Hull, sailed from Hull on June 5. A number of serious incidents occurred on April 23–24 in the course of clashes between Icelandic patrol boats and British trawlers off the south-west coast of Iceland. According to the Icelandic Coastguard, the incidents began on the evening of April 23, when the Arvakur, the smallest vessel of the Coastguard fleet, with no mounted cannon, cut the trawl wires of a West German trawler, while the warps of a Fleetwood trawler were cut by the gunboat Thor. A fleet of 20 British trawlers fishing in the vicinity thereupon lined up in formation and attempted either to encircle the patrol vessels or to ram them. When the Arvakur was encircled its crew fired rifle shots, which, according to reports, hit the Hull trawlers Portia and Brucella without, however, causing any casualties. When the Thor came to the assistance of the Arvakur, firing five blank shots, the trawlers tried to ram the Thor; the Brucella and the Hull trawler St. Leger went at full speed at the Thor, and the St. Leger rammed the Icelandic vessel which, although badly damaged, was able to continue its patrol duties; after the incident, during which, it was reported, the St. Leger was holed in the bows, the Thor fired three non-explosive warning shells over the St. Leger. The Coastguard also claimed that during the melee the trawler Macbeth fired a distress rocket at an Icelandic Coastguard plane. The Icelandic Foreign Minister, Hr. Einar Agustsson, protested against these incidents to the British Ambassador on April 24, while the latter made an oral protest against the continued cutting of trawl wires and delivered a formal protest against the latest developments to Hr. Agustsson on April 25. Mr. Joseph Godber, British Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, announced on April 26 after a meeting with representatives of the British Deep.-sea Fishing Industry Joint Action Committee, which was also attended by Lady Tweedsmuir and Mr. Anthony Stodart, Minister of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, that Britain had accepted an Icelandic invitation to hold another round of ministerial talks on an interim agreement in Reykjavik on May 3–4; the last snob round of talks bad been broken off in deadlock in November 1972[see page 25873 ].
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