Cod. The fish was once undeniably intertwined with the socio-economic fabric of Eastern Canada. And then one day, it wasn’t anymore.
Twenty-five years after the collapse of the Atlantic region’s cod stocks and a moratorium on fishing, the East Coast is anxious to know why it’s taking so long for the cod to recover. After all, stocks in Iceland and Norway, countries that experienced almost the same depletion at the same time, have rebounded. In fact, Norway’s cod population is at unprecedented levels. Canada’s cod story, however, has little good news.
Fisheries scientist Jeffrey Hutchings is a professor of biology at Dalhousie, a Killam Memorial Chair and former Canada Research Chair in Biology. His research is dedicated to the evolution, population dynamics, behaviour, genetics and resilience of fish.
Yes, he knows a lot about cod, and the recovery story is complicated.
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