Word: icelanders
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...costly. But many scientists feel that cheaper technologies may soon become available. Then the treaty could fall apart as old claims are revived and there is a rush to divide Antarctica's spoils. "If that happens," says one pessimistic U.S. official, "it could make the fishing wars off Iceland look as innocent as a schoolyard scuffle...
...Recently Icelandic naval vessels were sent out to harass British fishing trawlers by dragging the waters with a device that cuts the fishing-net towlines. Enraged British fishermen demanded government protection, and Prime Minister Harold Wilson reluctantly dispatched three Royal Navy frigates and three ocean tugs to fishing areas near Iceland to run interference for the trawlers...
Inevitably, things got nasty. While crossing the bow of the British tug Euroman, the Icelandic gunboat Thor was rammed and damaged. The British claim it was an accident; the Icelanders believe it was deliberate. In any case, given the North Atlantic's chronic wintertime high winds and rough waters, such naval games of chicken were bound to produce collisions. A fortnight ago the confrontation grew more serious. While seeking shelter from a gale two miles off Iceland's coast, the unarmed British ocean-going tug Lloydsman was fired on by the Thor. Iceland says the Thor fired...
Potent Weapon. Iceland was outraged by what it regarded as continuing British aggression, and last week took its case to the U.N. Security Council. Icelandic Ambassador Ingvi Ingvarsson noted that both West Germany and Belgium had already agreed to limit their fishing and he demanded that Britain do the same. British Ambassador Ivor Richard blandly suggested further discussions between the two governments...
...Iceland feels that there is little room for 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...