Iceland in the Cold War due to clerical errors. Icelandic courts approved warrants by the Icelandic police to tap the phones of prominent Icelandic communists on six occasions during the period 1949-1968: During the 12-year reign of the , US-Icelandic relations were at their calmest. The government initiated major economic reforms that liberalized Iceland's economy and reduced Iceland's dependence on barter trade with the USSR. The Cod Wars were a series of confrontations between the United Kingdom and Iceland regarding fishing rights in the North Atlantic. Each of the disputes ended with Iceland's victory. The final Cod War concluded with a highly favorable agreement for
Murray cod pressure, number of fishermen, number of nets, net mesh size, bag limits, minimum size limits and take of small cod, closed seasons and the taking of spawning cod full of eggs during spring, and other sundry issues, raged on and on without proper resolution, with fishing regulations either not amended, or amended and largely unenforced and completely ignored, and with heavy commercial, recreational and illegal fishing pressure continuing unrelenting and unabated. The end result was a Murray cod population, initially unimaginably abundant, continually fished down and down and down without pause, until in the early to mid 20th century a