Cod Wars Iceland, as the Soviet Union, seeking influence in Iceland, stepped in to purchase Icelandic fish. The United States, fearing greater Soviet influence in Iceland, also did so and persuaded Spain and Italy to do likewise. Soviet and American involvement resulted in weakening the punitive effects of the British landing ban. Some scholars refer to the dispute of 1952 to 1956 as one of the Cod Wars, as the object of the dispute and its costs and risks were all similar to those in the other three Cod Wars. Just as the other Cod Wars, the dispute ended with Iceland achieving
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