The Cod Wars
Iceland gets HUGE
This is part of an ongoing series mapping the current landscape of space law - specifically, the application of modern Law of the Sea to space. A dramatic series of confrontations between Iceland and Great Britain came to define territorial rights to resources, which could set a precedent for space resource allocation.
The Story
The year is 1958
The Convention on Fishing and Conservation of Living Resources of the High Seas: coastal states have special rights to the living resources around them
Iceland: sick
Iceland: all the fish within twelve miles of us are belong to us
Great Britain: I mean that’s a little big, no?
Iceland: stay in your zone nerd
Great Britain: I mean surely - OW GREATBLOODYHEAVENS THAT WAS MYFOOT!!
Iceland: and it’ll happen again if you cross the line!
the year is 1961
Great Britain: ok holy shit we won’t go within 12 miles of your shore we don’t want to smell your undercooked fish anyways
Iceland: great. you can come in once to get your shit out of my apartment.
Great Britain: if you make any more issues then we go to the international court of justice
Iceland: yeah whatever
1972
Iceland: ok new limit just dropped, it’s now 50 miles, you can’t be within 50 miles of us
Great Britain: files in the ICJ
ICJ: Iceland can you like not enforce the 50-mile limit until we settle the case 🥺🥺🥺
Iceland: I can’t hear you from all the way over there 50 miles away haha
Great Britain: throws tomatoes at Iceland
1974: The Fisheries Jurisdiction Case
ICJ: Ok Iceland you have preferential rights but not unilateral rights to your coastal fisheries zone. That means you HAVE to play nice with your brother
ICJ: So no stepping on Great Britain’s foot outside the original 12-mile zone and you guys have to come to a bilateral compromise
ICJ: ok?
1975
Iceland: extends fisheries zone to 200 fucking miles from the coast
Great Britain: slaps Iceland
Iceland: slaps Great Britain
NATO: Great Britain you gotta leave Iceland alone we really like to stash our nuclear submarines in between you guys*
Great Britain: fine. but I ALSO get a 200-mile fisheries zone.
Codification
1982
The Law of the Sea Convention: an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) 200 miles from the coast is now standard. A coastal state has sovereignty over its territorial sea, which stretches up to 12 nautical miles from the coastal baseline.
Note the differences between the territorial sea and the EEZ:
Back to Space Things
This case has particular relevance to the challenge of ownership and control of space resources and territory. How can we determine who has the rights to the mineral or liquid deposits on the moon or an asteroid? What about special features like water plumes and cryovolcanoes? And just like cod, everything in space is constantly moving around! A comet that’s near Earth on Monday might be closer to Neptune within the year. So who gets the rights to the water on the comet? What about orbits - how far up does Earth’s territorial space go? To the moon? Beyond the moon? Or just 200 miles?
*Oh yeah, Iceland had the balls to threaten to pull out of NATO during the ACTUAL COLD WAR. Like this whole Cod Wars side quest tantrum-type shit was going on during the REAL, ACTUAL, NOT A JOKE COLD WAR which involved NUKES and not just this:
Okay, well it also involved that, but with nukes.