George Rose, a former scientist with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) in Newfoundland and Labrador, was in the news recently talking about cod.
I have met George many times over the years when he was working in this province and made many presentations with him in attendance. George and I, although not together, were working on the same idea, to save the cod.
As usual, DFO did not pay much attention to either one of us.
I could listen to him all day because he tells it the way it is and is a very knowledgeable person.
I was never one to think the cod would not come back, but the powers that be would not do anything to help them along. They opened the fishery too soon after the moratorium, then had to close it again and did not stop the commercial capelin fishery to provide more food for the cod.
DFO did nothing to keep the seal harvest alive. When the seals exploded, as the former Premier Brian Peckford once stated, “They don’t eat turnips. And when capelin and herring, their preferred food sources, got scarce, they turned to other fish. Seals are like a dog or human, they will eat anything to stay alive, including cod, turbot, salmon and anything they can find.
When I grew up in Notre Dame Bay, when capelin came ashore, the cod came with them and for a period of time, we couldn’t catch them because they would be glutted and would lie on the bottom for a couple of weeks (saw it myself).
George mentioned cod is starting to follow its migrating route from years gone by. This is something I’ve mentioned many times. Many fisher people don’t want the cod to come back, because they might eat crab — a short-sighted vision. Crab will never replace the value of cod, if only they were allowed to return to their full potential.
While cod may never be the price per pound as the crab, cod is a lot cheaper to catch, don’t require million-dollar boats and provide a lot more jobs for our rural communities.
I, like George, believe the cod will return if we allow them. We need it to feed a hungry world and provide jobs for our people, the best way we can help the cod is to leave their favourite food the capelin in the ocean. Cod and turbot are cannibals. If they can’t find food, they will eat their own. I have seen young cod in the stomachs big enough to split.
I don’t know how many capelin there are, but I do know in the last 20 years it has been a problem even getting a meal to eat, as they don’t land many places now, where once they were rolling everywhere.
Last year, the capelin returned to Makkovik, Labrador and the cod returned, the first time since 1989, 34 years ago. Let’s make sure they return every year and do the proper thing help the cod to come back and make our children proud.
Wilfred Bartlett
Conception Bay South
