Newfoundland's Huge Northern Cod Fishery Begins FIP Project in Preparation for a Return to Market
SEAFOODNEWS.COM by John Sackton - April 17, 2015
The huge Newfoundland Northern Cod Fishery has entered into a fishery improvement project in preparation for a return to the market.
Canada's largest groundfishery on Northern Cod famously collapsed after overly optimistic stock assessments, a lengthy period of overfishing, and changes in the ocean environment.
This fishery, which rivals the size of the Barents Sea cod fishery, and once produced 800,000 tons per year, was shut down completely in the famous cod moratorium of 1992, prompting the largest layoffs in Canadian history.
For years, there was little stock recovery. However in the last seven or eight years, a new ocean regime with warmer temperatures more suited for cod has gradually returned to Atlantic Canada, and as a result conditions have begun to shift from those favorable for crab and shrimp to those favorable for cod.
Current stock suveys show a spawning stock biomass in the 200,000 ton range, and the stock has the potential to increase 50% a year...
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