Fishing industry in Scotland conflicting interest of the inshore and distant water fishermen. The Scottish fleet had a strong interest in seeing the exclusive 12 mile (22.2 km) limit retained; but the UK Government was also pressed by the distant water fleet, mainly, but not solely based on the east coast of England, which wanted to continue fishing off Iceland, Norway and the Faroe Islands. The distant water fishermen were, of course, strongly opposed to any extension of territorial waters of any country, including the UK. The drama of the "cod war" with Iceland was still to come, with Britain's attempt to protect the
Cod fishing in Newfoundland food source contributed to a decrease in the Beothuk population. Beothuk numbers began to dwindle rapidly due to a combination of factors directly relating to European, Inuit and Mi'kmaq migration, and by the 19th Century, the tribe no longer existed. After his voyage in 1497, John Cabot's crew reported that the sea there is full of fish that can be taken not only with nets but with fishing-baskets. and around 1600 English fishing captains still reported cod shoals so thick by the shore that we hardly have been able to row a boat through them. In the early sixteenth century,