Atlantic Cod: the Good, the Bad, and the Rebuilding
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [cfooduw.org] by Ray Hilborn - Novmber 4, 2016
The following is an edited version of the full report, which can be found at cfooduw.org.
Atlantic cod have been emblematic of fisheries problems, with the 1992 collapse of the Northern cod stock in Canada setting the stage for the last 25 years of concern surrounding status of cod stocks. The two U.S. cod stocks continue to be at very low abundance. However, over the entire Atlantic Ocean, the abundance of cod is high and increasing (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Abundance (in metric tons) of Atlantic cod from 1970 – 2010.
There are three broad categories of stocks: those that are doing poorly, those that are low but rebuilding, and those that are large and doing well.
In researching this story, we analyzed abundance data collected by scientific institutions and interviewed a range of scientists who have been involved in cod stock assessment and management over the last 15-35 years.
“If you look at the whole picture, you see that there is no consistent whole picture…Every single stock develops differently” says Chris Zimmermann, Director of the Thünen Institute of Baltic Sea Fisheries, Germany, with 20 years of experience working on ICES stocks...
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