Cod Wars and institutions are supposed to pacify interstate behavior. The Cod Wars are also held up as an example of the decreasing salience of hard power in international relations, with implications for realist theory which emphasizes the importance of hard power. Theorists on asymmetric bargaining have emphasized how Iceland, lacking structural power, can still have an issue power advantage, with its greater commitment to the cause. A 2017 study argues that the occurrence of the Cod Wars is inconsistent with liberal international relations theory, including the democratic peace thesis, as the "supposedly pacifying factors of the liberal peace – democracy, trade
Murray cod grave concerns over the sustainability of this operation, and complaints about the near-absence of Murray cod in their heavily fished grounds, were being raised in the main state newspaper, The Argus. Yet, fishing effort continued to increase in the region, so in the late 1880s and early 1890s, between 40,000 and 150,000 kg of mostly Murray cod (between 7,500 and 27,000 fish, at an average weight of 5.5 kg) were caught near Echuca. Similarly, in 1883, more than 147,000 kg of Murray cod were sent to Melbourne from just one river town (Moama). By the 1920s Murray cod had been