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Cod comeback swimming at different paces
December 28, 1996
Web posted at: 10:10 p.m. ESTFrom Correspondent David Mattingly
(CNN) -- For the first time in almost five years, fishermen in Newfoundland have something to smile about. The cod, once in dwindling numbers, are making a comeback.
In 1992, the country's once abundant cod stocks reached unprecedented lows, depleted by decades of overfishing and government mismanagement.
To save the province's fish stocks from extinction, the Canadian government closed its centuries-old cod fishery, putting more than 30-thousand people in Newfoundland out of work.
But the end of 1996 has brought better news. Scientists announced the cod were beginning to recover.
The good sign prompted an advisory board of fisherman and scientists to recommend re-opening some areas for small-scale commercial fishing in 1997.
Some say the good news is actually bad news disguised, a triumph of politics over common sense that will lead to similar depletion in cod numbers.
But after a sustainable management plan has been decided, neighboring Canada is expected to give the official go-ahead to limited fishing, probably early next year.
In the United States, the news is not so good. Overfishing in New England has also devastated groundfish stocks, and this July the New England Fishery Management Council implemented a new regulatory plan, known as Amendment Seven.
The measure, the council says, has been successful in stopping overfishing for a number of groundfish stocks for the first time in 30 years.
Still, fish populations are not recovering as well as had been had hoped, particularly cod in the Gulf of Maine. New regulations to strengthen the plan are expected in the next year.
Under the current plan, fishermen are permitted to spend only half the number of days at sea they normally would, and they say they're struggling to make ends meet.
The new regulations are expected to reduce fishermen's days at sea even more, and close off more fishing grounds, making it apparent the recovery of New England cod is much further down the road.
Regulation experts say whenever there's the slightest sign of recovery, fishermen begin pressuring the government to relax regulations. But, experts believe, the fish need to be monitored for five years or more to bring them back to the coast of New England.
So far, the U.S. and Canadian cod situation appears to have no significant effect on overall supply or pricing.
Related sites:
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- Cod Fishing Harbours
- Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture (Newfoundland)
- Fisheries Statistics & Economics Division
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