Bird’s eye view? Don’t cod me.

Before you read further, educate yourself and check out fish you shouldn’t eat

Done reading? Good.

A little background. I am a wildlife nut, I have been since I was a little boy. I was raised and went to school in the country. I can recognise many different types of flora and fauna. I believe that man can live in harmony with his environment. I am not, and will likely never be, a vegan or vegetarian. I wear leather goods. I live in a third floor apartment, have a pet cat, and keep a fish tank. I am not a member of any animal rights groups. So what’s my beef? Cod.

In November 1975 a cod war began between England and Iceland. This was the third war, the first in 1958, the second in ‘72 – ’73.
If it were a league table it would look something like this:

Country	Win	Lose	Draw	Points
Iceland	1	1	1	10,000
England	1	1	1	4

You may notice that the points table is skewed in Iceland’s favour. Why? Because the points system changed in the 1978, to 9,999 for a win and Iceland won the third Cod war.

All the wars were over Cod fishing rights. Large fleets of ships were mobilised on each side. In the ‘75 war the British were not convinced that over-fishing was destroying cod, the Icelanders were, and started enforcing a 200 mile limit on there waters. In the previous settlement, the limit was set at 50 miles, with certain areas within the limit that British trawlers could fish. War began. Eight months later, June ’76, Iceland played their trump card. Stop fishing our waters, or a NATO presence in Iceland will no longer be welcome. Iceland won, Britain sold off a staggering 60% of its fishing territory rights.

Interesting History! Fast forward 30 years.

Iceland’s cod is flourishing. Only line caught cod is allowed. They have lots, enough to export. Britain has not so much, so little in fact that North Sea cod are number one on the fish endangered species list. Time is the great rewriter of history, but it is amazing to see now how stunningly short sighted the British fishing policy was (and still is). No cod, ports closed, still too high limits allowed, continentals raping their waters.

What prompted this interest? Bird’s eye. You’ve seen the ad. Eat hoki! You’ve eaten all the cod. We’re making hoki into fish fingers now, eat them! Scour, rape and pillage another body of water.

For God’s sake people! Think! If you can’t think check out this list. Eat responsibly. Live in harmony with the environment.