UN General Assembly
1972

81. One of the Judges of the International Court of Justice, Judge Padilla Nervo, reached the conclusion that the Court should not have indicated provisional measures since its jurisdiction had not been established. As to the merits, Judge Padilla Nervo said the following: "The Government of Iceland in its information and documents sent to the Court, has given well-founded reasons and explanations of its sovereign right to extend its fisheries jurisdiction to the entire continental shelf area. "The coastal fisheries in Iceland have always been the foundation of the country's economy. "The coastal fisheries are the condition sine qua non for the Icelandic economy; without them the country would not have been habitable.