The Collapse of Atlantic Cod

The collapse of Atlantic cod stocks off the coast of Newfoundland left 40,000 Canadians out of work and put a $500-million-per-year industry on hold indefinitely. The tragedy can be attributed to the usual suspects: financial and ecological greed of the fisheries industry, along with government mismanagement and tunnel vision.

The question now is whether the cod stocks will ever recover, or whether they have shifted to a new “regime,” characterized by reduced populations. Fisheries experts worry that cod stocks in the region have not been able to reach the minimum diversity of age and size ranges that is essential for building up a healthy, resilient population through spawning. Experts are also concerned that proliferating crustaceans have already taken over the cod’s traditional ecosystem niche in the region.

If this is the case, it could be an example of “fishing down the marine food web” – a common reality in fisheries throughout the world – where overfishing leads to damaged ecosystems with reduced diversity. These new regimes are usually characterized by smaller fish species that live shorter lives, such as shrimp and snow crab, leading to stagnating or declining fisheries.

But decreased catches are far from the only concern. With reduced ecological diversity, these new ecosystems are less resilient and more susceptible to major climatic changes. What if this new regime were to collapse as well? Resilience planning is essential both to recover the cod and to stave off any further collapses, and that will entail maintaining diversity in these natural systems as much as possible.

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