| Assignment 2 | The Atlantic Cod Fishery Collapse | | Student Name: Jessica Sativi Meng Houy, Student Number: 062-827-092 | 7/11/2013 |

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I. THE MAIN FACTORS LED TO THE COLLAPSE
When the words spread about the large size of fishery, fleets from all over the world joined the hunt. Every year, the size of the fleets got bigger and every year, the size of the catch increased. In the late 50s the arrival of large factor ships from other countries hailed the first onslaught to the finely balanced renewable cod fishery. These factory trawlers came from England, the U.S., the Soviet Union, East and West Germany, Portugal, Poland, and some Asia nations such as Japan and Korea. Towards the end of the 20th century, over 3 billion pounds of Atlantic cod were pulled each year from the feudal water of North Atlantic. The annual catch, in 1968 increased to over 800,000 tones. At this level the cod were not able to renew their numbers and the available cod began to decline so that by 1975 the annual catch had declined to 300,000 tones. The U.S. and Canada took action in 1976 by extending their marine jurisdiction to 200 nautical miles which effectively pushed the foreign factory ships off many of the prime fishing and breeding grounds. The catches continued to decline for a few more years and bottomed out at 139,000 tons in 1978. If the fishery were maintained at this level then the recovery and health of the cod may have occurred but at this point Canadian factory ships were replacing the banished foreign ones and by 1984 were hauling in 250,000 tones which did not allow it to recover (Canada History). All this proves that cod fishery was threatened by not only the huge flow of foreign factory trawlers and fishermen but also the local factory ships and there were no restrictions or regulations set by the Canadian government to protect the cod recovery.
Another factor is the improvement of fishing technology. The fishing technology had also taken another destruction leap in catch power with deployment and use draggers. These ships dropped huge nets that were dragging along the bottom of the ocean which caught everything in its path and destroyed the underlying eco-system in the process. The draggers targeted huge aggregations of cod while they were spawning, a time when the fish population is highly vulnerable to capture and to the physical impacts of the bottom-trawling gear on the environment. Detractors of the technology claim that the excessive trawling on spawning stocks became highly disruptive to the spawning process, negatively impacting the reproductive behavior of the fish. Fish, young fish, other sea life and the food source for the cod were all being destroyed in order to keep the catch rate on the rise (Canada History).

II. SOCIOECONOMIC AND ECOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES * SOCIOECONOMIC:
Throughout Atlantic Canada, however most pronounced in Newfoundland, the cod fishery was a source of social and cultural identity. For many families, it also represented their livelihood: most families were connected either directly or indirectly with the fishery as fishers, fish plant workers, fish sellers, fish transporters, or as employees in related businesses. Additionally, many companies, both foreign and domestic, as well as individuals, had invested heavily in the boats, equipment and the infrastructure of the fishery, and therefore felt it was in their best interest to maintain an open-access policy to the ocean and its resources. What this alludes to is the unfortunate paradox that often accompanies open-access resources and is known by most as the Tragedy of the Commons: what is in the individual's best interest is not always in the best interest of a society at whole. In Newfoundland over 35,000 fishers and plant workers from over 400 coastal communities became unemployed in 1992 (Collapse of the Atlantic Northwest Cod Fishery). * ECOLOGICAL:
The Atlantic cod fishery collapse left terrible ecological consequences. As mentioned above, the fishing technology was a major destruction to the ecological system by using deployment and draggers. The huge nets that were dropped and dragged along the bottom of the ocean destroyed the underlying eco-system in the process. The effect of selective fishing on spawning grounds – that is, selectively over-exploiting one species in an ecosystem – had disastrous effect on the feeding relationships in that ecosystem. This contributes to the overall reduction of spawning stock biomass of the targeted species, but also an increase in the number of invertebrate and vertebrate predators such as crustacean and fish which will prey on cod eggs, larvae, and younger fish. It is a little wonder that a species like cod, would eventually run into difficulties struggling to survive when its habitat is being continuously destroyed and the balance of their food chain had been wiped out. III. CANADIAN CONTEXT COMPARED WITH OTHER COUNTRIES
The world’s largest food fishery is on the verge of collapse. Pollock, used to make McDonald’s fish sandwiches, frozen fish sticks, fish and chips, and imitation crabmeat, have had a population decrease of 50 percent since last year. Just as the collapse of Atlantic cod fishery due to poor oversight and mismanagement-the Pollock fishery is on the fast-track to collapse as well. Of the four Alaska Pollock stocks, two are now shut down completely and a third is just a fraction of its former size. Despite the warning signs, including five years in a row of low juvenile survivorship, industry has continued to target the pollock spawning aggregation, taking huge numbers of pregnant females before they release their eggs. And again, just like the Atlantic cod, this kind of fishing practice only deepens the problem by not allowing pollock to reproduce, grow and mature to reproduce again. This situation is pretty much similar to Atlantic cod fishery in Newfoundland before it was completely collapsed (Greenpeace Organization).

Works Cited List
Canada History. N.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2012.
Greenpeace Organization. “Alaska Pollock Fishery on the Verge of Collapse.” Greenpeace USA. Greenpeace Org. 09 Oct. 2008. Web. 11 July 2013.