November 17, 2014 — While climate change is being used as one of the main reasons for the decline of cod in New England, a local commercial fish harvester points his finger at seals as the biggest culprit locally.
An Associated Press story recently drew a comparison between the decline of cod in the United States with what happened to the northern cod stocks in the late 1980s and 1990s that impacted Canada’s east coast communities and changed the face of the fishery in this province.
Low cod biomass estimates resulted in closure of cod fishing in parts of the Gulf of Maine and the implementation of a number of restrictions on the fishery.
Bernard Barter, who lives and fishes out of Three Rock Cove on the Port au Port Peninsula, said he can’t speak to the decline in the U.S., but said he’s running into a problem with seals.
While Barter has been fishing for 23 years, while involved in the sentinel fishery this year he’s had a record number of seals caught in his gear.
Read the full story from The Western Star