October 12, 2014 — Cape Cod with no cod.
Our cod crisis has become a sad cliche, ironic enough to catch the eye of the national media, and the truth does indeed hurt. Just ask Chatham and Harwich fishermen, who fished in what was once one of the top cod ports in the country but now catch mostly skates and dogfish and very little cod.
Codfish once supported fleets of 400 schooners each in Gloucester and New Bedford, and as many as 100 schooners crowded into Provincetown Harbor in the 1800s, many headed to rich Canadian fishing grounds and Georges Bank. Cod are wrapped up in the history of the state and the growth of our nation, and symbolic cod hang in both the main courtroom of the Barnstable Superior Court and in the state House of Representatives.
But now, it's largely Iceland, Canada and the Pacific that put cod on restaurant menus and our tables at home. And many experts now worry that a fish, whose fortunes are so closely aligned with our own growth as a country, could now be going extinct. There's an emotional connection, and contemplating the last cod, is like letting the last bald eagle die.
"I think we have all heard people's concerns that we have reached the point of no return," said Steve Cadrin, an associate professor at the University of Massachusetts School for Marine Science and Technology in Dartmouth.
But scientists, managers and environmentalists downplay the rumors of an Endangered Species petition or possible extinction, and believe that fisheries managers are now finally taking the first real step on what could be a very long road to rebuilding cod.
Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times