the acquis communautaire, which new members would have to accept as settled policy. The late 1960s and early 1970s were characterised by a sudden and unexplained increase in the abundance of a number of gadoid species (cod, haddock, whiting, etc.), the gadoid outburst. In this period the gadoid species in Scottish waters all produced a series of exceptionally strong year classes which have not been seen repeated in the intervening period. This great abundance, coupled with the price support system that subsidised fishermen when prices fell, contained in the CFP, lead to heavy investment in new boats, equipment and processing capacity in the Scottish whitefish fleet. Britain's negotiating position was complicated by the 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 interests of its distant water fleet. Compromise was reached when it was agreed that the applicant countries would retain their 6-mile (11 km) exclusive limits, and their limits subject to existing historical rights, for substantial parts of their coastline, preventing continental European vessels fishing in much of the Scottish west coast, including all of the Minch and Irish Sea. These limits have been renewed in legislation on two occasions, and although these rights are not a permanent feature of the policy, it is unlikely now that they will ever be extinguished, especially in the light of the need to conserve fish stocks. In January 1977, at the behest of the EEC, the UK and other member states extended their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) to 200 miles (370.4 km) or to the median line with other countries. This followed the extension of exclusive fisheries limits by Iceland, Norway, the United States and Canada to . By this time Norway had decided by referendum not to join the EEC, as had the Faroe Islands, which, as a Danish dependency, had the option to join but did not do so.