Believe it or not, overfishing can sometimes lead to war. It can lead to soldiers of one country battling against soldiers of another country. A great example of this can be seen in the Icelandic Cod Wars. The country of Iceland lacks certain natural resources including timber, fuel, and minerals. However, one thing that Iceland has a whole lot of is cod. Iceland uses this cod to help its economy and certain industries. Because cod is so important to this country, Iceland began to overfish the cod. In 1958, Iceland changed the area in which it was allowed to fish for cod from 4 miles off the coast to 12 miles off the coast. By 1974, Iceland wanted to increase this area in which it was allowed to fish for cod to 200 miles off the coast. This angered the country of Britain because Britain did not believe that Iceland should be able to claim that much of the Atlantic Ocean. Britain decided to break the rules and fish in the areas that technically belonged to Iceland. Wars broke out on the sea as British boats clashed with Icelandic boats. And these wars started out with Iceland simply overfishing the cod. Source:
"Cod War in Iceland." Cod War in Iceland. Kwintessential, n.d. Web. 9 Jun 2010.
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