Leeds nostalgia: Remembering the Cod Wars of 1976...
The conflict was fought on the high seas, not between rival navies but trawlers from Great Britain and Iceland, both of whom were fighting over fishing rights off the coast of Iceland. The UK had a long tradition of using the waters but as demand grew and ships became more efficient, tensions rose, resulting in some ship-to-ship collisions, nets being cut and even the deployment of navy vessels as a deterrent.
On February 20, the 355-ton trawler Rose Leone, of Hull, had her nets cut in something called ‘warp cutting’, as openly acknowledged by the Icelandic Consulate.
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Hide AdThe Cod Wars were eventually concluded diplomatically, resulting in Iceland dramatically increasing its exclusion zone to 200 miles.
We might be enjoying the Winter Olympics but this month in 1976, the Winter Olympics were taking place in Innsbruck, Austria. The games took place from February 4-15.
John Curry took gold in the men’s single figure skating contest, securing our only medal of the games.