Maritime history of the United Kingdom and echo sounders making life easier now. Fishing in waters off Iceland became important, which led to three "Cod Wars" from the 1950s to the 1970s. British boats were excluded from Icelandic waters in 1976. In 1977 a fishing limit was set up by the European Economic Community, and British waters were opened to other Community members. This led to overfishing. Landings decreased 28% between 1967 and 1997, with fishing now mainly off Scotland. Other sorts of fishing also take place on a commercial basis such as for crab, lobster, shellfish and mackerel. Sport fishing is popular from coasts and
Cod Wars passage of Soviet submarines while the Royal Navy was threatened by further serious defence and naval cuts by the Royal Navy's chief "bête noire", the Chancellor of Exchequer and former Minister of Defence, Denis Healey. The Royal Navy saw its strategic aim at the time to be as much as fighting Healey as the Soviet Navy. The Second and Third Cod Wars were necessary wars for the Royal Navy, like the Falklands Operation, six years later. To Crosland, also MP for the trawler port of Grimsby, the third war was a more serious threat to the Western Alliance than the