Cod Wars 30,000 tons. While Iceland came closest to withdrawing from NATO and expelling US forces in the Second Cod War, Iceland actually took the most serious action in all of the Cod Wars in the Third Cod War by ending diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom on 19 February 1976. Although Icelandic government was firmly pro-Western, the government linked Iceland's NATO membership with the outcomes of the fishery dispute. If a favorable outcome could not be reached, Iceland implied that it would withdraw from NATO. However, the government never explicitly linked the US Defence Agreement to the outcome of the dispute.
Murray cod reading of historical newspaper articles and historical government reports reveals that the whole history of wild Murray cod between the mid–1800s and the mid–1900s was one of citizen agitation, government inaction, and ongoing stock decline. For decade after decade, riverside residents, commercial fishermen, recreational fishermen, local fisheries inspectors, fish retailers, and others agitated in newspapers and other fora about the evidently, continuously declining Murray cod stocks, to be met in turn either with government denials, or conversely, with various ineffective inquiries into Murray cod stocks and fisheries, and various ineffective control measures. For decade after decade, debate about excessive fishing