This paper is about the Newfoundland cod fishery and the destruction that happen over the past years due to over fishing and destroying of breeding grounds. Also it gives a brief description on where we are today and where we are heading in terms of the cod fishery.
History of the Cod Fishery.
The history of Newfoundland is essentially the history of its fishery. The English and Irish immigrants who settled Newfoundland derived a livelihood solely from the fishery. Most of these people settled along the northeast coast of the Island of Newfoundland, and on the coast of Labrador. Here, from the beginning, they were totally dependent on the annual shoreward migration of Northern Cod. .
Their dependence had, by the 1900's created a society, an economy and a political community based on cod. The Newfoundland economy has diversified over the years, but Northern Cod is still as central to the Newfoundland soul as the wheat fields are to Saskatchewan, or the forests and salmon are to British Columbia. .
For the past century enormous Northern Cod landings have dominated the Newfoundland fishery, in some years peaking at over 300,000 tons. From 1884 to 1984, Northern Cod was the main source of the rich harvests Newfoundlanders have drawn from the seas. .
This special dependence on Northern Cod has been a recurrent theme in our history. .
This historic dependency, based on centuries of fishing, establishes for the adjacent coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador a compelling and prior claim on the present and future benefits of Northern Cod. This claim has been nurtured by the very evolution of our settlement pattern, much the same as other regions of Atlantic Canada have developed an historic exploitation of the fish stocks in their adjacent waters. .
Present Day Situation.
A two-year moratorium on the northern cod fishery was announced on today by John C. Crosbie, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and Minister for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.
