Four years ago, the Canadian government shut down the cod fisheries in the northeast Altlantic because the cod stocks had dropped to almost nothing. As the moratorium dragged on, tens of thousands of unemployed fishermen put pressure on the government to let them go back to work. This summer, the government finally relented. It’s a […]
Host Steve Curwood talks to Vaughn Anthony, chief science advisor to the Northeast region of the National Marine Fisheries Service. Despite the outcry by local fishermen over the new harvest restrictions, Anthony thinks the rules may be “too little too late” to save haddock and cod stocks.
Jennifer Ludden of member station WBUR in Boston reports on new federal measures to protect New England fishing stocks by placing heavy restrictions on some commercial harvests. Haddock and cod populations off New England have declined drastically in recent years, threatening a livelihood that was once a cornerstone of the New England economy.
The CBC’s John Calver reports from St. John’s, Newfoundland on the sharp decline in stocks of salmon and cod off northeast Canada. The Canadian government blames foreign vessels fishing just outside its territorial waters, but the decline may also be due in part to an unexplained change in a major ocean current.