November 13, 2014 — Cod stock news out of New England this week is eerily similar to the collapse of the northern cod stocks in the late 1980s and 1990s that gutted Canada’s East Coast coastal communities and changed the face of the fishery in this province.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the U.S. this week responded to low cod biomass estimates by announcing emergency measures, including the closure of the cod fishery in parts of the Gulf of Maine and the implementation of a number of restrictions in the fishery.
It’s the worst crisis the cod fishery in that area has experienced in 40 years.
According to The Associated Press, the Gulf of Maine, along with Georges Bank off the coast of Massachusetts, is one of two key areas where U.S. east coast fishermen catch cod.
The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service estimates cod spawning in the Gulf at only three per cent to four per cent of its target level, or a 13 per cent to 18 per cent decline from three years ago.
A news release notes the New England Fishery Management Council — a multi-stakeholder body that develops management measures for federal fisheries — had requested that NOAA Fisheries, on behalf of the Secretary of Commerce, implement immediate management measures to address the declining Gulf of Maine cod stocks.
The cod decline in the waters off Newfoundland and Labrador, and Atlantic Canada, culminated in the northern cod moratorium being announced in 1992, followed by fishery closures in 1993 for the south and west coasts of the province. The finger of blame for the stock collapse pointed to everything from federal mismanagement to foreign overfishing, bad or inconsistence science, heavy fishing on cod spawning grounds and overcapacity in the industry.
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