What's happened to the 'cod' of Cape Cod, both tourists and fishermen ask
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [Los Angeles Times] by Alana Semuels Sept 2, 2014
- Reporting from Chatham, MA
There aren't enough cod left on Cape Cod.
That soon becomes evident to the tourists crowding an observation deck to watch fishermen unload their boats in this picturesque harbor sheltered from the ocean by sandy dunes.
Today's catch: pounds of skate, a fish that looks like a sting ray until fishermen catch it, when they cut off its wings and throw the body back into the water. The skate wings, white triangular pieces of flesh trailed by streams of blood, slide down ramps onto the loading dock.
"Eeeewww," says 5-year-old Felix Haight. "It looks like raspberry jelly," he adds, as his mother wrinkles her nose.
The next boat brings in dogfish, which looks like a mix between a shark and a lizard, and is no more appealing to the tourists.
For generations, the fish sliding down this ramp would have been cod, a ground fish that has been caught in these parts since the Pilgrims landed on Cape Cod...
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