OVER-FISHING of cod has already led to the collapse of cod fisheries worldwide. Cod was depleted in the Bering Sea in the 1980s and centuries of fishing in the Grand Banks off the coast of Newfoundland ended in the 1990s when Atlantic cod was fished to commercial extinction.
A Common Fisheries Policy was negotiated for the Common Market in the early 1970s but the policy and a system of quotas did not come into force until 1983. It was a period that coincided with a heyday for cod stocks in the North Sea and 300,000 tonnes a year were landed at British ports. As herring declined cod took off and the industry invested in a new mechanised fleet to take advantage of this increased haul. This fish bubble known as the gadoid expansion helped to ensure cod as a staple fish in the diet of the nation.
In the 1990s, as Atlantic cod vanished, the alarm was sounded over the state of North Sea cod stocks and scientists feared that cod was next at risk. But instead of banning cod fishing as the European Commission had previously ordered for herring, politicans ducked the issue fearing the wrath of a powerful industry.
Stricter quotas were introduced but there was widespread abuse of the system in the UK and other European Union states. By 1996 the cod was officially in crisis. In the past decade stringent efforts have been made to save cod in the North Sea, along the West Coast of Scotland and in the Irish Sea. But illegal landings have exacerbated the problem.
Today the British catch of cod is just over 15,000 tonnes a year and is worth £21 million, small fry compared with the 64,000 tonnes of cod sold each year in supermarkets and the 23,000 tonnes served in pubs, bars and restaurants and the 22,000 tonnes sold in fish and chip shops.
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It is not surprising therefore that Britain is now dependent on cod imports from Russia, Norway, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. But with evidence of over-fishing of cod by Russian trawlers and the growth of an illegal black trade cod supplies look likely to be further squeezed in future.
The International Council for the Exploration of the Seas has just cut the cod quota from the Barents Sea from 480,000 tonnes a year to 309,000 tonnes for next year. It is estimated, however, that the illegal fish catches are 20 per cent over the quota and could be as much as 25 per cent. Without firm international action to tackle the illegal cod catch from countries outside the EU the days for cod remain bleak.