Saga - 1995, Page 167

„ÖMMUSKEYTIN" 165
að vissu leyti skiljanlegar. Lífsbaráttan var hörð á þessum árum og
samkeppnin um fiskinn og markaðina enn harðari. Aflabrögð voru
yfirleitt mjög góð, fáir höfðu umtalsverðar áhyggjur af viðgangi fiski-
stofnanna, en flestir voru þeirrar skoðunar, að nógur fiskur væri í
sjónum. I hann þurfti að ná, og þar með virðast a.m.k. sumir hafa litið
svo á að tilgangurinn helgaði meðalið.
Loks er þess að gæta, að landhelgisnjósnimar byggðust á nýrri
tækni og svipar að því leyti til tækni- og iðnaðamjósna síðari tíma.
Eins og svo oft endranær var löggjöfin á eftir tækniþróuninni. Við
það mynduðust gloppur, sem óprúttnir fjáraflamenn hikuðu ekki við
að notfæra sér.
Summary
Wirelesses were first installed in British trawlers just before the
First World War. After the war most trawlers fishing off Iceland,
Eritish as well as Icelandic, were equipped with this new techno-
l°gy. Although the main purpose of the wireless was to ensure the
safety of the trawlermen, skippers soon began using them to send
c°ded messages concerning movements and whereabouts of Ice-
landic coast-guard-vessels. Icelandic skippers formed so-called
«/Code-societies", often with the participation of the trawler own-
ers, while British trawlers received information from agents ashore.
The sending of such messages was illegal, but until 1927 the
°nly reaction of the Icelandic authorities was to build more coast-
guard-vessels in an attempt to make the patrolling of the fishery
Hmit more effective. In 1927 a new government came to power and
a bill was soon tabled on the control of wireless messages going to
and from the trawlers. This was defeated, however, and it was not
until 1936, when five people admitted to having sent illegal in-
^ormation on the movements of coast-guard-vessels, that the gov-
ernment finally decided on a provisory law permitting control of
the use of the wireless. As a result, eight Icelanders were found
§uilty of „spying" on the coast-guard in 1937-38, and were made to
Pay heavy fines.
The „granny-grams", as these illegal messages were generally
called, because of the code allegedly used, were one of the most
°uy debated political issues in Iceland between the wars. Since
e Second World War, however, the subject has seldom been
'scussed and has hitherto been paid little attention by historians.