Fishermen unload their catch

"We have direct control over our waters," he said.

"If, for example, we examine a catch of cod and more than a quarter of the fish are less than 55cm long, we can recommend that the fishing ground be closed immediately."

With his state-of-the-art radar and surveillance equipment, Captain Johnsson identifies a trawler for boarding.

He talks to its captain on a mobile phone, which the fishermen prefer because the line is more secure than a radio.

The first officer and a boarding team go across on the icy, but calm waters on a high-speed inflatable.

Measurements

Once on board, they wait for the crew to pull up the next catch. As the nets are hauled in to the strains of Elvis Presley, they measure the size of the fish and the nets.

Everything is fine and the fishing ground is given a clean bill of health.

Fish must be above a certain size

In the EU, the same procedure has to go through numerous bureaucratic hoops, and final decisions are made in Brussels.

Many EU fishing organisations now talk about adopting "localised control" following the Icelandic example.

Iceland's windswept, volcanic, moon-like landscape has made it a strange social and scientific laboratory.

Its population is just over a quarter of a million and its currency - the krona - is linked to no other currency in the world. It is not part of the European Union and has not intention of joining.

Yet Icelanders enjoy the sixth highest standard of living in the world.

No defences

Its fishing grounds are the lifeblood of the nation, yet it maintains no navy, army or air force to protect its sovereignty.

That job is done by the Americans from a Nato base at Keflavik.

Although the European debate is beginning to rumble here, the awesome environment seems to have created a rugged individualistic pride far removed from the corridors of Brussels and determined to safeguard its isolation.

Iceland's landscape seems to have bred a special type of independence

There is a complete ban on interbreeding livestock, and no animals are allowed to be imported into Iceland.

The Icelandic horse is descended from the Mongolian cavalry horses of Genghis Khan.

They were put on Viking boats and brought here more than a thousand years ago.

No other horse has come in and if an Icelandic horse leaves, it is never allowed back.

No foreign cows

The cow is also unique and unchanged in breed since Viking days.

Test-tube embryos are being imported from Norway, where they will be implanted on a special quarantined island.

Iceland banned all products relating to mad cow disease as far back as 1978

Snorri Sigurdsson

It will not be until three or four generations of the cows being screened and given a clean bill of health that the new breed will be allowed into Iceland proper.

"Many people laugh at us for taking so many precautions," says Snorri Sigurdsson. "But remember it was Iceland who banned all products relating to mad cow disease as far back as 1978."

This is what Iceland describes as "science-management" - in which politicians tend to listen to the advice of scientists over that of lobby groups.

It is such a crucial part of policy that even the Prime Minister, David Oddsson, is closely involved.

While Europe's cattle and fish industries are presently on roller coaster rides, and while squabbling about the single currency continues, Iceland is keeping its distance - part of Europe but certainly not part of the EU.