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
Collapse of the Atlantic northwest cod fishery that extended to 200 mi offshore. The government wanted to reverse declining fish stocks by removing foreign fishing within the new inshore fishery boundaries. With the absence of foreign fishing many Canadian and U.S fishing trawlers took their place and the number of cod kept diminishing past a point of recovery. Many local fishermen noticed the drastic decrease of cod and tried to inform local government officials. In 1986, scientists did a review of calculations and data after which they determined, in order to conserve cod fishing the total allowable catch rate had to be cut in half. However, even