Entry 2: June 24, 2008

Icelandic Foreign Ambassador

Guthmundur Eiriksson came to speak to us today about the Law of the Sea and issues surrounding Iceland and the sea. He discussed the 1948 Declaration on the Continental Shelf and the Truman Proclamation, the 1960 Conference and the Cod Wars between Iceland and Great Britain, territorial seas, passage through the straits, claiming the seabed, fishery resources, and global warming in the polar areas. The two topics that intrigued me the most were the Cod Wars and global warming in the polar areas.

International relations is a very important issue with Iceland and their main industry. Iceland has only six or seven fishing stocks around Iceland, so they have to barter and negotiate with other nations to use their fishing stocks; in return they make agreements to help them in areas that they are interested in that Iceland is good at. And it works the same way if other nations want to fish in the Icelandic stocks. Iceland wants to and is working to preserve and not over fish their stocks. There have to be relations with states who have control over waters. Then there is some geopolitical interest that there should be free waters for all. Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain to some extent use Iceland as fishing ground.

The Cod Wars were fought between Iceland and Britain. Iceland, thought of as the underdog, won these wars; the Cod War could be compared to the David and Goliath story. Iceland thought they had a good reason and a moral right to fight because the fish in their waters is all they have. They also thought that it was not right what the British were doing because they would over fish their waters and just move to a different spot whenever there were no more fish. Icelanders were unable to “arrest” the British fishing ships so they would go behind the British ships and cut their nets so they could not fish. Without the nets there is no purpose for them being there; the British go very frustrated with this. Iceland now has two hundred nautical miles out from the coast that they control.

The next issue talks about global warming and how Iceland has made a few plans for it. This section has also left me with more questions than answers. He talked about how in 15 years or so there will a route from Japan to Europe due to global warming and the melting of the ice. Iceland may put a port up north and become a part of this route. Also he discussed that if and when the ice melts and there are routes open through the poles how would Iceland deal with that because there will be significant environmental problems especially since oil would be transported with this route. Would there be restrictions to shipping across the poles with this new route is a huge question being asked? There are so many determining factors such as the status of the economy; would it be worth it, and do they even want a hand in it? 

Questions that Guthmundur left me with have inspired me to write my IDS paper on this topic and I will hopefully be in communication with him or with someone he puts me in contact with that will be able to help me further. Would Iceland gain or lose fishing ground with the possible routes? If global warming continues Iceland will lose land and ports – how will this affect their fishing industry because most of their arable land is near the coast? The only land left available if too much ice melts will be the land that is uninhabitable – how will this affect their fishing ports and man-power to work the fisheries? Would Iceland’s fishing boundaries stay where they are currently are or will they continue to be two hundred nautical miles from the coast line? Would these opportunities open or close trade with more countries? If these routes come about would Iceland stay such a pure and environmentally friendly country? And how would this affect the whaling industry that Iceland is in? Or how much does Iceland depend on the whaling industry if global warming kills the whales that live in the Arctic? These are serious questions that will affect the livelihood and economic and environmental health of Iceland.

Entry 1: June 17, 2008

Since today is Iceland’s Independence Day it has been a pretty relaxed and fun day. There was a celebration in a small town not far from here. When they came back from that we had an amazing lunch and eight of us plus Dr. Grathwohl’s son, Michael, and an Icelandic guy our age were out playing Frisbee and it escalated into a game of serious Ultimate Frisbee. We were divided into Team Gudrun and Team Kjartan, who are two main characters in the Laxdaela Saga that we just finished this morning in class. How fitting! It was so much fun and some serious rivalry between the Gudrun and Kjartan lovers. This is our source of fun here – laughing and arguing about the two characters. It is pretty amazing how I can go from being anti-literature to absolutely loving every one of the 79 chapters of the Laxdaela Saga and all the stress that comes with understanding the complex piece of literature.