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hey guys :D
signups have officially opened!! check out the forum post here

I found a strange historical fact in my geography textbook.
It was an international conflict called the pollock war.

The Sea of Okhotsk in Russia had many fish and fishermen from different countries (Russia, China, Poland and South Korea) went there to catch fish, especially pollocks. In the late 70s sea economic zones were extended, leaving less fishing areas as international waters. They were quickly exploited. As a result of changing the fishing areas and breaks from catching fish, many foreign ships started coming to the Sea of Okhotsk. First Russians didn't want to catch pollocks, but then they noticed that they can be traded well and started a rivalry with the visitors.
The conflict started in 1991. Russia organized military manoeuvres during the fishing season, forcing Polish, Chinese and Korean ships to leave the international waters. The manoeuvres lasted much longer than they were supposed to and when they were going on, foreign ships couldn't enter Russian harbors to fix their ships or change crews. They had to go to South Korea. Both Russia and Polish fishing companies lost a lot of money due to the problems with harbors.
The conflict got more heated in 1993, when Russians stopped a Polish ship catching pollocks without permission. They accused foreign fishermen of ecological aggression. Russian, Korean and Polish scientists did research about pollock population and its exploitation, but disagreed about the data.
In 1994, the countries almost came to an agreement. They agreed to catch 25% less pollocks and Polish ships were allowed to fish in the Russian economic zone if they bought a permit.
As the US wanted to control the Bering Sea, Russia wanted to control the Sea of Okhotsk. Polish ships were convinced to leave the area, later the Japanese, Chinese and Korean ones did the same, harassed by Russian ships.
In 1995, the UN tried to extend the countries' sea economic zones even more. The earlier negotiations failed and Polish ships stayed in the neutral zone. Russia tried different deals with Poland but none of them was satisfactory: leaving the international zone and fishing in Russian zone with payments, seriously limiting the amount of caught fish or cooperating with Russian fishing companies with less Polish sailors on board. They finally signed a treaty. Polish ships could enter the Russian zone, but only certain parts of it. These parts weren't as effective for fishing as the previously visited areas. Poland warned Russia that the ships would return to the international waters if the limits weren't extended. In 1996 the higher limit was still too low and Polish companies had serious financial problems. In the meantime, some ships were arrested and accused of catching too young fish, not having permissions or polluting the sea.
I don't know how the conflict ended. I found only one article from 1997 and it was still ongoing then.
I'm sorry for the bias and any mistakes, it's quite difficult to find articles about it. I will try to read more about one incident mentioned in the article (in 1997 something happened to the Polish ship Aquarius). If I find more information, I will finish the story. Any feedback or grammar correction is welcome.