Atlantic Cod Essay
in depth analysis of the Factors causing the Commercial Collapse of Atlantic Cod
Somayeh Rasouli
Student Number: 103548472
University of Windsor, Dr. Heffner Abstraction
The commercial collapse of the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) in 1992 had major ecological and socioeconomic implications that prompted the government to invest in research into management models of fisheries in order to prevent other collapses and recover the lucrative cod stocks. The factors that contributed to the cod collapsed have been studied in depth over the years. In this paper literature review of multiple studies indicated overfishing was the main source of the collapse. The role of seal predation and poor recruitment on the cod collapse was also analyzed and …show more content…
The proliferation of the new technologies such as sonar guided purse seines allowed fisherman to exploit a larger area, go deeper depths than before, for a longer time. This was made the Atlantic cod population more vulnerable to overfishing since they were the main catch of the region at the time (Higgins, 2009). In order to study the significance of overfishing on the commercial collapse of the cod population the key results the various studies will again be outlined and analyzed. Therefore, in this paper, the hypothesis that poor recruitment, increased seal predation, along with overfishing played a role in the commercial collapse of the Atlantic cod stocks will be investigated along with the importance of each factors role in the collapse. The validity of the hypothesis will be measured through a literature review of previously published studies. …show more content…
(1997), results outlined in Table 1, showed recruitment of the year classes that made up most of the spawners biomass the year the Atlantic cod collapsed weren’t that different from the long-term recruitment levels. Of the six stocks studied in the paper, southern Grand Bank, northern Gulf of St. Lawrence and Eastern Scotian Shelf displayed lower recruitment levels in the mid-1980s (Table 1). However, Labrador and north-eastern Newfoundland, and southern Gulf of St. Lawrence showed increased recruitment (Table 1). Further, spawners biomass was extremely low in all the stocks in the mid-1980s (Fig.
Somayeh Rasouli
Student Number: 103548472
University of Windsor, Dr. Heffner Abstraction
The commercial collapse of the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) in 1992 had major ecological and socioeconomic implications that prompted the government to invest in research into management models of fisheries in order to prevent other collapses and recover the lucrative cod stocks. The factors that contributed to the cod collapsed have been studied in depth over the years. In this paper literature review of multiple studies indicated overfishing was the main source of the collapse. The role of seal predation and poor recruitment on the cod collapse was also analyzed and …show more content…
The proliferation of the new technologies such as sonar guided purse seines allowed fisherman to exploit a larger area, go deeper depths than before, for a longer time. This was made the Atlantic cod population more vulnerable to overfishing since they were the main catch of the region at the time (Higgins, 2009). In order to study the significance of overfishing on the commercial collapse of the cod population the key results the various studies will again be outlined and analyzed. Therefore, in this paper, the hypothesis that poor recruitment, increased seal predation, along with overfishing played a role in the commercial collapse of the Atlantic cod stocks will be investigated along with the importance of each factors role in the collapse. The validity of the hypothesis will be measured through a literature review of previously published studies. …show more content…
(1997), results outlined in Table 1, showed recruitment of the year classes that made up most of the spawners biomass the year the Atlantic cod collapsed weren’t that different from the long-term recruitment levels. Of the six stocks studied in the paper, southern Grand Bank, northern Gulf of St. Lawrence and Eastern Scotian Shelf displayed lower recruitment levels in the mid-1980s (Table 1). However, Labrador and north-eastern Newfoundland, and southern Gulf of St. Lawrence showed increased recruitment (Table 1). Further, spawners biomass was extremely low in all the stocks in the mid-1980s (Fig.