British Are Taking Rift With Iceland To Court in Hague

March 7, 1972

Credit...The New York Times Archives

See the article in its original context from
March 7, 1972, Page 9Buy Reprints

TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers.

About the Archive

This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them.

Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions.

LONDON March 6 (Reuters)—Britain has decided to refer to the International Court of Justice her dispute with Iceland over a proposal to extend Icelandic fishery limits to 50 nautical miles from 12 on Sept. 1.

The move was announced in the House of Commons today by Anthony Royle Parliamentary Under Secretary at the Foreign Office.

Officials explained that Britain had informed the Icelandic Government about the decision to take the matter to the court in The Hague. They added that Britain hoped to reach agreement with the Icelandic Government on interim arrangements for British fishing in the waters affected while the case is before the court.

Following a long “cod war,” during which there clashes at sea, Iceland and Britain reached an agreement in 1961 under which Iceland's fishing limits were set at 12 nautical miles (a nautical mile is about 6080 feet). Britain has said that the agreement cannot be unilaterally ended.

Last week the House of Lords was told that the proposed extension to 50 miles would deprive Britain of a fifth 40 a quarter of such species as cod, haddock and plaice.

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT