Just a reminder.
In 1949 Newfoundland joined Canada as a province, and thus Newfoundland's fishery fell under the management of the
Department of Fisheries and Oceans. The department mismanaged the resource and allowed
overfishing.
[13][
further explanation needed]
In 1969 the number of
fishing trawlers increased, and inshore fishermen complained to the government.
[14] This resulted in the government redefining the offshore fishery boundaries several times, and eventually extended its limits from three miles to 200 miles offshore,
[13] as part of its claim for an
exclusive economic zone under the
UNCLOS.
In 1968 the cod catch peaked at 810,000 tons, approximately three times more than the maximum yearly catch achieved before the super-trawlers. Approximately eight million tons of cod were caught between 1647 and 1750 (103 years), a period encompassing 25 to 40 cod generations. The factory trawlers took the same amount in 15 years.
[15]
In 1976, the Canadian government declared the right to manage the fisheries in an exclusive economic zone that extended to 200 miles offshore. The government wanted to reverse declining fish stocks by removing foreign fishing within the new inshore fishery boundaries.
[13]Fish mortality decreased immediately.
[14] This was not due to a rise in cod stocks, but because foreign trawlers could no longer fish the waters. Therefore, when Fisheries and Oceans set quotas, they overestimated the total stock, and increased the
total allowable catch.
[15] With the absence of foreign fishing many Canadian and U.S fishing trawlers took their place and the number of cod kept diminishing past a point of recovery.
[13]
Many local fishermen noticed the drastic decrease of cod and tried to inform local government officials.[
citation needed]
In a 1978 white paper, the Newfoundland government stated:
[16]
It must be recognised that both the Federal and Provincial Governments, plant workers, and the private sector, which includes fishermen, all have a role to play at influencing and directing the course of development within the fisheries sector. It is essential, therefore, that various interest group conflicts be minimized and that the appropriate measures be taken to ensure that benefits accruing from the exploitation of fish stocks are consistent with rational resource management objectives and desirable socio-economic considerations.
In 1986, scientists[
who?] reviewed calculations and data, after which they determined, to conserve cod fishing, the
total allowable catch rate had to be cut in half. However, even with these new statistics brought to light, no changes were made in the allotted yearly catch of cod.
[13] With only a limited knowledge of cod biology, scientists predicted that the population of the species would rebound from its low point in 1975.
In the early-1990s the industry collapsed entirely.
In 1992,
John Crosbie, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans at the time, set the quota for cod at 187,969 tonnes, even though only 129,033 tonnes had been caught the previous year.
In 1992 the government announced a
moratorium on cod fishing.
[13] The moratorium was at first meant to last two years, hoping that the northern cod population would recover, and along with it the fishery. However, damage done to Newfoundland's coastal
ecosystem proved irreversible,
[17] and the cod fishery remains closed.
By 1993 six cod populations had collapsed, forcing a belated moratorium on fishing.
[15][
further explanation needed] Spawning biomass had decreased by at least 75% in all stocks, by 90% in three of the six stocks, and by 99% in the case of "northern" cod, previously the largest cod fishery in the world.
[15] The previous increases in catches were wrongly thought to be due to "the stock growing" but were actually caused by new technologies such as trawlers.
[14]