Does the decision to lift Newfoundland’s cod moratorium adequately consider climate change?

Jul 19

Graphic of a fishing net catching small fish — *Illustration by* *Ata Ojani*

Thirty-two years ago, the largest layoff in Canadian history was announced: the cod fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador was shut down due to plummeting stocks caused by decades of overfishing and mismanagement. Now, the Canadian government has reopened that same fishery, much to the dismay of scientists who say the shift will prevent the precarious population from ever having a chance to recover.

To Dean Bavington, a geography professor at Memorial University in Newfoundland and author of Managed Annihilation: An Unnatural History of the Newfoundland Cod Collapse, reopening the fishery is not only skirting evidence that the population isn’t healthy enough, it’s also ignoring the additional stress of climate change on cod and its prey.

The decision to lift the moratorium is based on the precautionary approach framework, which Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) uses to classify species into four categories: critical, cautious, healthy and uncertain. Depending on the status, a total allowable catch for the species is determined. For cod, which has been in the “cautious zone” since 2016, the decision means a 46 per cent increase in how much fish can be caught: 18,000 tonnes now, compared to 13,000 tonnes in 2023, which was permitted under the previous stewardship fishery. In the 1980s, before the moratorium, the total allowable catch sat at about 240,000 tonnes.

Bavington says the decision shows DFO is using a shifting baseline, varying its goals for the cod population over the past three decades. In 1992, the quota for cod was about 185,000 tonnes, but fishers were catching far less than that because of the rapid decline, he explained.

All reporting produced as part of this project is free to the public and is not behind National Observer's paywall.

Peter Allan

Does the decision to lift Newfoundland’s cod moratorium adequately consider climate change?

Canadian philanthropists pledge record $405 M for climate solutions

Bridging the gap between renters and retrofits: report