Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World

Newfoundland fishermen like Sam Lee still speak as if the cod will return any moment, but scientists are skeptical. The local optimism is fueled partially by necessity and partially by the relative success of restoration in Norway. However, Norway implemented restrictions in 1989, at the first signs of serious stock decline. Since they acted while there was still a viable population capable of reproduction, the stock has already begun to stabilize in 1995. In contrast, the Canadian government did not enact similarly strict controls until the stock was nearly wiped out, and there is concern that there is not enough left to repopulate the area.

The Canadian government estimated, as of 1994, that the moratorium will last until 2000. However, other experts believe it will take at least 15 years of no fishing to restore the population. Meanwhile, the government holds special “food fishery” weekends, in which locals are permitted to fish only what they need for their own consumption. This is intended to appease locals, but even this has been deemed insufficient for some.

Many have offered suggestions for addressing depleted stock. One popular idea is farming fish. Salmon farming is an established practice and could be expanded to cod. However, scientists have concerns about fish farming. For one, the farming itself is often not sanitary or safe. For another, suggestions that farmed fish be released into the wild to replenish stock could lead to serious genetic issues. Still, the idea continues to be explored as overfishing becomes a global problem.

As of 1996, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN estimates that 60% of fish types currently tracked are now “fully exploited, overexploited, or depleted” (198). This includes a wide range of species from bluefin tuna, swordfish, and shrimp. Moreover, the collapse of the Soviet Union destabilized international fishing agreements. Consequently, Russia has since become a major cod fisher and has flooded the market.

Another suggestion has been to replace the Atlantic groundfish with Pacific varieties. However, Pacific cod is a different fish, which does not migrate, live as long, or grow as large, and its flesh is less desirable. Furthermore, marine ecologists are concerned that changes to one local population will detrimentally impact all other local species. One example was the impact of seal hunting in Newfoundland and Labrador. After activists successfully convinced Canada to ban seal hunting in 1983, the increased seal population led to a decreased cod population, as cod is common in their diet. Then, as the cod stock was depleted, fishermen successfully convinced Canada to rescind the ban in 1995. As another example, the depleted cod population has allowed other species to move into the area of the Grand Banks, including a species of arctic cod, snow crab, and shrimp.

The largest obstacle to any efforts to restore the cod in Newfoundland, however, is “an almost pathological collective denial of what has happened. Newfoundlanders seem prepared to believe anything other than that they have killed off nature’s bounty” (204). If they continue to resist the efforts to change, they have little chance of survival. For too long, humanity has viewed itself as separate from the concerns of nature, but the truth is that humanity is a powerful predator that impacts everything around it.

In England, debates about fishing always return to the issue of fish-and-chips. For most British, fish means cod. The British government estimates that 70% of all fish species in British waters are overfished. In response to these threats, the British return to the xenophobic habit of blaming foreigners—in this case, the Spanish. The Spanish, with the highest European per capita consumption of fish and no local fishing grounds, rely on fishing in foreign waters. In December 1994, European negotiations gave the Spanish permission to fish in the “Irish box,” an otherwise protected area off the coast of Ireland, intended for marine conservation. The British, particularly the fishing towns in Cornwall, are not happy with this decision.

The Spanish primarily import their cod from Iceland. The stock they are after in the Irish box is hake, which the British do not care about. However, the Cornish still feel threatened. They believe the Spanish will take all the cod and leave the Cornish fishermen nothing. This fear is strong in the fishing town of Newlyn, where the fishermen work on shared boats in smaller numbers and with tight quotas. They felt vindicated in their complaints after the Canadian Coast Guard arrested a Spanish trawler in Canadian fishing grounds and took the matter before the UN. 

The incident proved to be little more than political theater, but the Cornish still believe the Spanish have stolen their local stock. When asked how the recent arrival of the Spanish could be blamed “when the catch had been declining for forty years” (217), the Cornish fishermen declared that the Scottish were also a problem.

In Gloucester, Massachusetts, the local fishermen have become similarly paranoid about the Canadians. Gloucester’s economic power was built on cod fishing and other groundfish. However, the numbers were beginning to decline by the 1960s. As of 1995, the town’s population of working fishermen has dropped to 400, from 2,000 40 years before. 

The US National Marine Fisheries Services concluded that the cod stock on the Georges Bank was depleted by 60% between 1990 and 1994. In response, each fishing vessel was permitted 139 days of groundfishing per year, which was cut down to 88 days annually two years later. Gloucester fishermen turned to other kinds of fish. Other out-of-work fishermen became truck drivers, dockworkers, and tour boat captains. As in St. John’s in Newfoundland, Gloucester became a tourist location, popular for whale viewing.

Like Newfoundland, the fishermen of Gloucester believe that overfishing is a temporary problem that will fix itself in time. They believe that the government’s efforts to stop overfishing are doing the more permanent damage. They argue that the cod will return, but by then all the fishermen will be gone, driven away by unemployment. When the cod return, there will be no local fishermen, and the Canadians will take over the Georges Bank instead. This fear stems from the bad blood between Canadians and New Englanders that goes back to the French and Indigenous War, even though most present-day Gloucester fishermen originate from Sicily or the Greek islands, having immigrated to the US in the last two or three generations.

For instance, Angela and John Sanfilippo came from Sicily and set up business in Gloucester. Angela Sanfilippo was one of the community members most active in keeping oil companies off the Georges Bank in the 1980s. As fishermen continue to leave, she asks: “Who is going to look after the sea if the fishermen are gone?” (231). Many wonder if the government will protect these environments from corporate pollution and overreach. 

Though tourist interest in whales keeps the town afloat, there is a difference between tourism and genuine stewardship of the ocean. Just as humans were eventually forced to stop commercial hunting and rely on domestic farming for meat, societies must now face the possibility that wild fishing is no longer viable. The question remains what will happen next.