Shrimp War

The Shrimp War was an international fishing dispute and bloodless conflict between Albion and Denmark.

On May 6, 2000, Alban Coast Guard officers from the Coast Guard patrol ship ACGS Nanurjuk boarded and impounded the Danish fishing trawler Tasiilaq after an Alban aircraft was fired on by someone aboard the ship. Albion claimed the ship was fishing in Alban waters, while Denmark claimed Tasiilaq was in Greenland waters. The ensuing diplomatic dispute led to a brief standoff between Albion and Denmark before the issue was resolved through negotiation.

Basis of the conflict
Relations between Albion and Denmark have generally been amicable, with border disputes existing mainly over the ambiguous status of Hans Island - issues carried out primarily in the form of good-natured flag-planting.

The development of Iqaluit and Qikiqtarjuaq as deep-water fishing ports on Baffin Bay created increased pressure over border claims in the Baffin Sea region. The sea, lying between Baffin Island and Denmark, is the site of a prime fishery for northern prawns, and economic activity there is a driver of prosperity for Inuit in Nunavut and Greenland alike. In Denmark, the Royal Greenland company operated extensive fisheries in the region. A maritime EEZ border had been rationalized in 1973 by a computer-generated process, but a survey of the area by ACGS Edward B. Green in the mid-1990s produced more accurate mapping of the Baffin Island continental shelf, revealing a coastal shelf arrangement that should have pushed Albion's EEZ out by a short distance.

In 1999, Nunavut had achieved special status as an Autonomous Nation Within Albion, giving it provincial-level rights along with special privileges concerning cultural traditions, language rights and way-of-life allowances. This new arrangement required Albion to look after all foreign affairs on behalf of Nunavut, as it did with all provinces under the Alban federal arrangement. Fishing rights had been a long-standing issue for Inuit anglers, who claimed repeatedly that Danish industrial fishing operations were monopolizing the shrimp stocks in Baffin Bay, to the point of trespassing into Albion's exclusive economic zone and muscling Inuit fishermen out of prime shrimping grounds. Inuit fishermen were also frustrated with Danish fishing methods pertaining to other species, in particular complaining of the impact of bycatch on local fish stocks. Fears of a shrimp stock collapse were an issue at the time following the recent collapse of the Newfoundland cod fishery.

The Liberal government of Prime Minister Eugene Woloshyn viewed the dispute as an extension of problems in the Arctic exacerbated under previous governments. Increased Coast Guard patrols were undertaken in the disputed area, and AA-160 Intruder II long-range patrol aircraft of RAFA 647 Squadron were moved to AFB Townshend to shadow suspected Danish interlopers.

The Tasiilaq incident
On May 6, 2000, the fishing vessel MV Piturnivik, sailing out of Qikiqtarjuaq, radioed in a report of a Danish fishing trawler intruding into Alban fishing grounds. The first unit on the scene was an AA-160F of 647 Squadron, piloted by Lieutenant Owen Barton and navigator Second Lieutenant Kelly Schellenberger, who observed the Royal Greenland purse seiner Tasiilaq at coordinates Albion considered just inside the country's Exclusive Economic Zone. Barton and Schellenberger radioed a warning to the ship but received no response.

With a Coast Guard ship still a ways away and unlikely to arrive in short order, Barton elected to drop to a very low altitude, almost to wavetop level, before coming in towards Tasiilaq and bringing his aircraft's nose up in a close warning flyby. The low approach startled the Danish sailors enough that several fled below decks. As Barton passed overhead, one of Tasiilaq's crew, identified as Christian Fredrikssen, drew a shotgun and fired several rounds at the overflying aircraft. One shell struck the underside of the Intruder's wing, doing minimal damage but leaving a visible bullet hole and a thin stream of smoke as Barton climbed back to altitude. Schellenberger radioed that the Intruder had taken fire, then withdrew to circle Tasiilaq from a distance.

A short time later, the patrol ship ACGS Nanurjuk arrived, followed by the ice-strengthened patrol ship ACGS Albert R. Donlevy. The ships found Tasiilaq still operating in waters the ACGS considered Alban. A warning from the ACGS was refused, and Nanurjuk fired her .50-calibre machinegun across the trawler's bow to cut off her escape. Alban Coast Guard officers then boarded Tasiilaq, arrested her crew and took the trawler in tow.

Tasiilaq was towed to port in Iqaluit and impounded to great fanfare, particularly in Nunavut. The crew were detained pending charges of unauthorized entry into Albion, illegal fishing in Alban waters, assault against an Alban soldier and other minor fisheries infractions. Denmark immediately filed a strenuous protest, declaring Albion's actions illegal and claiming the Tasiilaq had been fishing in Danish waters utilizing approved methods. Both Denmark and the European Union threatened to boycott Alban products and lobbied to have the case heard in international court.

Escalation
Following the Tasiilaq incident, Denmark dispatched the patrol ship Støren to Baffin Bay to protect Royal Greenland fishing vessels in the area. In response, the Alban government dispatched the patrol ship HMRAS Kitimat and the nuclear submarine HMRAS Akutan to the region.

Rebuffing European and Danish efforts to drag the case before international court, Fisheries Minister Greg D'Angela - acting as the public face of the controversy - issued statements emphasizing the alleged criminality of the Danish fishermen. On May 10, he spoke to media at the harbourfront in Iqaluit with a large crane holding up one of the nets seized from Tasiilaq, describing the nets as using a mesh too small to meet Alban fisheries standards. He also displayed a large map with coordinate readings taken by Barton, which showed Tasiilaq just inside Albion's exclusive economic zone.

On May 13, Royal Greenland placed a large cash bond on Tasiilaq, and the ship was returned to Denmark. The ship's crew was also released without charges save for Fredrikssen. Denmark insisted on his release and threatened to levy punitive tariffs on Alban seafood products. The country went on later in May to place a visa requirement on Albans within Denmark, forcing several Albans to leave the country or face prison time despite having arrived legally prior to the requirement's implementation.

On May 28, the fishing trawler Jenny Belle, out of Iqaluit, was transiting within Alban waters when she was approached by the Danish patrol ship Støren. The patrol ship shadowed the civilian trawler from just inside the Danish EEZ. The fishermen radioed for help. Moments later, HMRAS Akutan, operating just inside the Alban EEZ, pinged Støren with her sonar. The sub then surfaced and radioed a message to the Danish ship: "Bang, you're dead."

On June 4, ACGS Donlevy cut the lines of a Danish fishing trawler. Denmark responded by dispatching the patrol ship Lommen to join Støren in Baffin Bay.

In the background, negotiations had taken place between Albion and Denmark in Edinburgh, but talks fell apart after Denmark refused to acknowledge certain policies protecting the stocks of migratory Arctic fish and shellfish species from overfishing - a concern for Albion given the recent collapse of the North Atlantic cod and halibut fisheries in New France. With talks breaking down, D'Angela once again went before the media and declared that Albion would "defend our fishermen from Nunavut by any means necessary." The government backed up his statement by announcing that the frigate HMRAS Minishic would deploy to the region to protect Alban fisheries in the region.

On June 7, a tense standoff emerged when two Danish F-16s made a dangerously close overfly of the Alban trawler MV Ticasuk. The F-16s were intercepted by two AF-14D Tomcats flying from AFB Townshend. The Alban aircraft established missile lock on both F-16s but held their fire before passing them within visual range. The two flights of aircraft broke down into a mock dogfight, ending when one of the more agile F-16s dropped onto the six o'clock of one of the AF-14s and achieved a missile lock, but also held fire. The fight broke up without any actual weapons being fired, but the incident proved to be an embarrassment for the RAFA, particularly when a photo emerged of the Danish pilot, Kaptajn Markus Skovgaard, showing off an F-14 kill mark on the fuselage of his aircraft.

Resolution
A second round of discussions was announced on June 9, to be held in New York and mediated by the United States. The resulting discussion brought an agreement from all parties to stand down provocations in the Arctic and respect the boundary line established by the 1973 treaty between Albion and Denmark until such time as a new agreement could be reached.

The New York Agreement of June 11 led to a series of drawn-out talks between Albion and Denmark, finally concluding in the February 2001 Baffin-Greenland Treaty. The new delineations broadly reflected the Alban position, utilizing updated mapping of the Baffin Island continental shelf taken by Alban Coast Guard science vessels over the preceding 20 years. It was found that Danish ships were in fact trespassing in Alban waters on occasion, and Denmark agreed to pay a nominal fine for the Tasiilaq incident, mainly covering the cost of repairing one bullet hole in the wing of one plane. Also included in the dispute was a settlement over disputed Hans Island, based on updated satellite mapping: Sovereignty over the island was split along the middle, creating an infinitesimal Alban-Danish land border.

Oil conspiracy theory
In 2006, the book Oil Tyees alleged the Woloshyn government pursued an aggressive policy during the Shrimp War due to internal studies suggesting Baffin Bay may overlie significant oil and natural gas deposits. The book claimed the Liberals used the conflict as a pretense to achieve a more favourable EEZ rationalization in the hopes of exploiting any oil discoveries in the region.

This objective was not realized, in large part due to opposition to oil drilling voiced by the government of Nunavut and by a unanimous cross-section of Baffin Island political leaders. Public opinion polls consistently demonstrate a negative attitude to oil drilling by Nunavut residents.

A ten-year moratorium on oil drilling off Nunavut was quietly passed by the Nunavut government in 2004 and supported by the government of Prime Minister Garrett Long in 2006.