Lament for an Ocean: The Collapse of the Atlantic Cod Fishery

The northern cod, once the most plentiful fish on the Grand Banks off the coast of Newfoundland, have now been almost wiped out. As a result, tens of thousands of people in Atlantic Canada have been left without work due to a 1992 moratorium on fishing the stock, which is now on the brink of extinction. Similarly, the Pacific salmon stocks are in trouble, victims of the same blind, stupid greed.

Angry, accusatory fingers have been pointed at various possible culprits for the collapse of the cod. The Spanish and Portuguese have been blamed for sending ever-bigger fleets to the Grand Banks for hundreds of years. The factory-freezer trawlers, which "vacuumed" the ocean floor for the prized fish, have also been criticized. Inshore fishermen who circumvented the rules governing the fishery have been held accountable, as well as the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, which is responsible for managing the fishery. Even the harp seal, the cod's competitor for food, whose numbers have exploded in recent years, has been blamed. Nature itself has also been accused, with some claiming that the lowering of the ocean's temperature is to blame.

In "Lament for an Ocean," the award-winning true-crime writer Michael Harris investigates the real causes of the most wanton destruction of a natural resource in North American history since the buffalo were wiped off the face of the prairies. The story he carefully unfolds is the sorry tale of how, despite the repeated and urgent warnings of ocean scientists, the northern cod was ruthlessly exploited.

The collapse of the northern cod fishery has had a devastating impact on the communities that relied on it. Thousands of fishermen and processing plant workers lost their jobs, and the economic and social consequences have been felt for years. The moratorium on fishing the stock was a necessary but painful decision, and the search for solutions to the problem has been ongoing.

One of the key factors in the collapse of the cod fishery was the use of increasingly sophisticated fishing technology, such as factory-freezer trawlers, which allowed for the rapid and unsustainable exploitation of the resource. Overfishing, combined with environmental factors like changes in ocean temperature, have all contributed to the decline of the northern cod.

Despite the efforts of scientists and policymakers to manage the fishery more sustainably, the northern cod remains in a precarious position. The story of the cod's decline is a cautionary tale about the dangers of unchecked exploitation of natural resources, and the importance of heeding the advice of experts and considering the long-term consequences of our actions.

In "Lament for an Ocean," Michael Harris delves into the complex web of factors that led to the collapse of the northern cod fishery, and the ongoing struggle to restore this once-abundant resource. The book is a powerful reminder of the fragility of our ecosystem and the importance of balancing the needs of both human communities and the natural world.

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