Is Cod Dead?

Published on Thursday, December 3, 2009, by James Norton / Edit Post

The question of sustainable seafood is one that has rightfully electrified and provoked anyone who earns a living from selling the stuff or takes great pleasure in eating large quantities of it.

Minnesota food writer Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl has a tendency to dig beyond the surface in her writing, so rather than just harpooning a Twin Cities fish and chips chain for its extensive use of North Atlantic cod, counter to the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch guidelines, she puts all the evidence in one extensive blog post and lets her readers have at it.

The pros and cons (mostly the latter) are more numerous than you might expect, and it's interesting to sift through the raw data: A statement from the seafood supplier, arguments about different fishing regions, details about why Canada doesn't rein in its fish industry. The conclusion is necessarily muddy, but it may make you think twice before ordering any old basket of fish and chips at the neighborhood pub.

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POST A COMMENT |2 Comments

COMMENT

  • Read "Cod" by Mark Kurlanksy.

  • If all the fisheries don't reign in their limits within 5 years, it will be too far gone to ever recover. Remember - it take sooo long for cod smolt to achieve reproductive maturity (6-10 years) that it's exponentially harder to restore cod vs. say salmon. California has instituted marine protected areas (MPAs) and they are working. Canada and the UK must step up.

    One bright spot at this...+READ

    If all the fisheries don't reign in their limits within 5 years, it will be too far gone to ever recover. Remember - it take sooo long for cod smolt to achieve reproductive maturity (6-10 years) that it's exponentially harder to restore cod vs. say salmon. California has instituted marine protected areas (MPAs) and they are working. Canada and the UK must step up.

    One bright spot at this point: Black Cod of the cold Northern Pacific isnt really cod...and its numbers are strong at this point. Think Morimoto's Miso Black Cod, baby.-COLLAPSE