Fishing industry in Scotland conflicting interest of the inshore and distant water fishermen. The Scottish fleet had a strong interest in seeing the exclusive 12 mile (22.2 km) limit retained; but the UK Government was also pressed by the distant water fleet, mainly, but not solely based on the east coast of England, which wanted to continue fishing off Iceland, Norway and the Faroe Islands. The distant water fishermen were, of course, strongly opposed to any extension of territorial waters of any country, including the UK. The drama of the "cod war" with Iceland was still to come, with Britain's attempt to protect the
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