cod

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Canada Ends Moratorium on Cod After 32 Years

Ban devastated Newfoundland's economy in the 1990s

(Newser) - The Canadian government has ended the Newfoundland and Labrador cod moratorium, which gutted the Atlantic province's economy and transformed its small communities more than 30 years ago. The Fisheries Department announced Wednesday it would reestablish a commercial cod fishery in the province, with a total allowable catch of 18,...

Not Only Do Fish 'Talk,' They Have Accents

Marine biologist launches study on the regional dialects of cod

(Newser) - Not only do cod "speak" to each other, but they have "regional fish accents"—kind of like the aquatic version of a southern drawl—and that could be bad news for fish-and-chips lovers, Wired reports. According to the Boston Globe , marine biologist Steve Simpson recently started a...

Alaskan Cod Are Eating Seabirds

And scientists have no idea why

(Newser) - In what could definitely be the inspiration for a SyFy original movie, it appears Pacific cod are working their way up the food chain. A few years ago, Alaskan seafood workers started finding partially digested bird remains inside the stomachs of cod caught in the Aleutian Islands region, the Anchorage ...

New England's Cod Are Fleeing to Cooler Waters

Temperatures in the Gulf of Maine have soared in recent years

(Newser) - Hope you like seahorse-and-chips because New England is just about out of cod thanks in part to global climate change, Reuters reports. According to a study published Thursday in Science , the waters in the Gulf of Maine have warmed faster than 99% of all other ocean waters. And that's...

Move to Save Fishing Industry Could Kill It

Cod fishermen say slashed Gulf of Maine quotas will spell doom

(Newser) - Faced with dangerously declining cod stocks, New England fisheries officials voted yesterday to massively cut cod quotas—down 77% from last year's catch for the next three years in the Gulf of Maine, and by 61% for the next year in Georges Bank, near Cape Cod, reports the New ...

Climate Change May Tank World's Fish Stocks

Scientists predict huge upheaval to marine populations

(Newser) - The world's supplies of fish face major upheaval, scientists warn, as climate change forces species from shrimp to herring away from warming waters toward the poles. The BBC reports that in 40 years, American fishermen may see a 50% reduction in the population of Atlantic cod. "The impact of...

Pacific Salmon Face Uncertain Tides

Oceanic changes doomed '08 crop, but scientists can't agree on what caused them

(Newser) - West Coast fisheries has seen a 90% drop in salmon spawn since 2004, and while many blame rivers degraded by dams and diversions, some experts believe the problem has been pushed out to sea, reports Salon. Wind direction and water temperature have changed, bringing less food to the ocean’s...

Cod Farmers Bet Tech Tames Finicky Fish in Fjords

Investors put millions into new attempts to raise fish in Norway

(Newser) - As consumption of farmed fish reaches an all-time high, Norwegian entrepreneurs hope you'll soon pick farm-raised cod over salmon for dinner, the Wall Street Journal reports. Wild cod stocks are overfished, and the fickle ocean species is difficult to breed on farms. But improved aquaculture techniques have persuaded investors to...

8 Stories