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The Cod Wars ((アイスランド語:Þorskastríðin), "the cod war", or ''Landhelgisstríðin'', "the war for the territorial waters"〔The Icelandic Coast Guard's name in Icelandic directly translates as "Territorial waters Guard".〕) were a series of confrontations between the United Kingdom and Iceland regarding fishing rights in the North Atlantic. Each of the disputes ended with Iceland's victory. The final Cod War concluded with a highly favorable agreement for Iceland, as the United Kingdom conceded to a 200 nautical-mile Icelandic exclusive fishery zone.〔 The term "cod war" was coined by a British journalist in early September 1958. None of the Cod Wars meet any of the common thresholds for a conventional war though, and may more accurately be described as militarized interstate disputes. ==Background and history== Fishermen from the British isles began to fish in the Icelandic waters around 1400. From the early 16th century onwards, English sailors and fishermen were a major presence in the waters off Iceland.〔 Some Icelandic historians view the history of Iceland's struggle for control of its maritime resources in ten episodes (or ten cod wars). The first of these Cod Wars was a dispute between Norway and England in 1415–1425 over the latter's trading with Iceland, which was in violation of Norway's monopoly on the Icelandic trade. This dispute ended when the English arrested Eric of Pomerania's officials in Iceland, effectively restoring the Anglo-Icelandic trade. The agreement reached in 1976 (which concluded what is traditionally considered the Third Cod War) is considered the final and tenth Cod War. With increases in fishing ability enabled by steam power in the latter part of the 19th century, pressure was exerted on boat owners and skippers to exploit new grounds. Large catches in Icelandic waters meant voyages across the North Atlantic became more regular. In 1893, the Danish Government, which had governed Iceland and the Faroe Islands, claimed a fishing limit of around their shores. British trawler owners disputed this claim and continued to send their ships to Icelandic waters. Danish gunboats patrolling the area escorted a number of vessels to port, fined them and confiscated their catch. The British Government did not recognise this claim, on the grounds that setting such a precedent would lead to similar claims by nations which surrounded the North Sea, which would be damaging to the British fishing industry. In 1896, the United Kingdom made an agreement with Denmark which allowed for British vessels to use any Icelandic port for shelter, provided they stowed their gear and trawl nets. In return, British vessels were not to fish east of a line from Illunypa to Thornodesker Islet. In April 1899, the steam trawler ''Caspian'' was fishing off the Faroe Islands when a Danish gunboat tried to arrest her for allegedly fishing illegally inside the limits. The trawler refused to stop and was fired upon. Eventually the trawler was caught, but before going aboard the Danish vessel, the skipper ordered the mate to make a dash for it. The ''Caspian'' set off at full speed. The gunboat fired several shots at the unarmed boat, but could not catch up with the trawler, which returned heavily damaged to Grimsby. On board the Danish gunboat, the skipper of the ''Caspian'' was lashed to the mast. A court held at Thorshavn convicted him on several counts including illegal fishing and attempted assault, and he was jailed for thirty days. With many British trawlers being charged and fined by Danish gunboats for fishing illegally within the 13-mile (24.1 km) limit (which the British Government refused to recognise), the British press began to enquire why this Danish action against British interests was allowed to continue without intervention by the Royal Navy. The issue was left largely unresolved, and the reduction in fishing activity brought about by the First World War effectively ended the dispute. Attempts by the Icelanders to ban foreign trawling within Iceland's traditional territorial waters (4 miles wide and including bays and fjords) were unsuccessful. British gunboat diplomacy, the display of naval force, in 1896–1987 led to the Anglo-Danish Territorial Waters Agreement of 1901 which set 3-mile territorial limits (measured narrowly) for Iceland for 50 years. The Icelandic fisheries grew in importance for the British fishing industry towards the end of the 19th century. While data is incomplete for the pre-WWI period, one historian argues that the Icelandic fishing grounds were "very important" to the British fishing industry as a whole. Data for the period 1919–1938 shows a significant increase in the British total catches in Icelandic waters. The British catches in Iceland were more than twice of the combined catches of all other grounds of the British distant water fleet. Icelanders grew increasingly dismayed at the British presence. After independence from Denmark in 1944, Iceland cancelled the agreement between Denmark and the UK made in 1901.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/themes/cod-wars.htm )〕 Iceland and the United Kingdom were involved in a dispute from May 1952 to November 1956 over Iceland's unilateral extension of its fishery limits from three to four miles. Britain took the case to the International Court of Justice,〔 however, unlike in the Cod Wars, the United Kingdom never sent its Navy into Icelandic waters. The British trawling industry did, however, implement costly sanctions on Iceland by imposing a landing ban on Icelandic fish in British ports. The landing ban was a major blow to the Icelandic fishing industry (the UK was Iceland's largest export market for fish) and caused consternation among Icelandic statesmen. Cold War politics proved favorable for Iceland, as the USSR, seeking influence in Iceland, stepped in to purchase Icelandic fish. The US, fearing for greater Soviet influence in Iceland, also purchased Icelandic fish and saw to it that Spain and Italy would also purchase Icelandic fish.〔 USSR-US involvement therefore made the British landing ban ineffective. Some scholars refer to the Dispute of 1952–1956 as one of the Cod Wars, given that the object of the dispute, and the costs and risks of the dispute were similar to those in the other three Cod Wars. Just as the other Cod Wars, the Dispute of 1952–1956 ended with Iceland achieving its aims, as the Icelandic four mile fishery limits were recognized by the United Kingdom following a decision by the Organisation of European Economic Co-operation in 1956.〔 Two years later, in 1958, the United Nations convened the first International Conference on the Law of the Sea attended by eighty-six states.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://legal.un.org/diplomaticconferences/lawofthesea-1958/lawofthesea-1958.html )〕 Several countries sought to extend the limit of their territorial waters to 12 miles, but the conference did not reach any firm conclusions.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cod Wars」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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