Word: fish
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...mouth droops and its eyes bulge outrageously. Even its character seems less than admirable: the cod submits meekly to any fishhook in sight. Yet the lowly Gadus morrhua is hardly friendless. Indeed, for the third time in 17 years, Great Britain and Iceland have deemed their attachment to the fish so vital that they are engaged in another "cod war" against each other...
...three conflicts broke out when Iceland, which depends on fishing for 80% of its exports, unilaterally decided to extend its territorial fishing limit. Last July the Reykjavik government declared that no other nation, without prior agreement, could fish within 200 miles of Icelandic territory; the previous limit, established in 1972, had been 50 miles. Icelandic authorities claimed that new scientific studies showed a drastic decline in young cod, those that have not yet reached breeding age. If these underage fish continued to be harvested before reproducing, the total cod catch would decline ruinously within a few years...
...conservation measures were needed. But, said Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Minister Frederick Peart, "we do not consider that the present state of the stock is so grave as to require extreme measures." The new rules proposed by Iceland would reduce the British catch, much of which winds up in fish 'n' chips, from 130,000 tons a year to 65,000 tons. Negotiations broke off last month after Iceland rejected London's counterproposal of 110,000 tons...
...negotiation. "The natural resources at stake here do not mean anything to the British economy as a whole," said Icelandic Foreign Minister Einar Agustsson. "But they are Iceland's only natural resources and therefore not only important but a matter of life and death for us Icelanders. Without fish we haven't even a chance of survival." Tiny Iceland, moreover, believes that it has one potent weapon in its not-so-funny war with London. If Britain refuses to give in, it may well close NATO'S surveillance station in Keflavik-a key to the protection...
...POLITICAL FUTURE: I am a fish out of water in any other profession. I used to come to my lands near here. I would play around a little, I would kick someone in the pants and say, "What the hell are you doing, you lazy fellow?" But I didn't really get involved. I couldn't. As long as politics remains in this country, I will be in politics, either in the government or in opposition. If there's no democracy, I might not live to tell the tale. But if I do live to tell...