Cod stocks rebound
Some years ago, I made the photo above in a small island community in Indian Bay on the east coast of Newfoundland. The community did not technically exist. It was resettled long time ago and with the moratorium on cod fishery in 1992, it was always going to be a vacation spot for folks whose families used to live there and now continued to maintain cabins on the island's shore. The photograph, to me, always spoke of just how important cod fish was to the cultural identity of Newfoundlanders even after it lost its economic significance.
The two men in the photograph, both descendants of generations of fishermen, were filleting cod fish they caught as part of the food fishery in a community that did not officially exist. Neither of them was a fisherman - one worked in construction, the other in video game industry - and yet they were engaged in an activity that lost almost all its economic value, but was a crucial part of how they saw themselves.
When cod moratorium was put in place in 1992, the impact on Newfoundland was devastating. The job loses alone, some 37,000 jobs, made for the largest industrial closure in Canadian history. On top of that, socio-economic and cultural fabric of the entire province was unraveled.
Today, the cod stock is declared healthy. I am not a born and bread Newfoundlander and I don't come from a fishing family, but even for me this is a deeply emotional news. In so many ways, this feels like a different future that is suddenly possible for the place I love. More than that, this is an example of how we can help the natural world we damaged so profoundly, heal itself. This is also a lesson in just how much it will cost us to live beyond the carrying capacity of our planet. The price is not just economic. The price is everything.
Newfoundlanders have a remarkable tenacity when it comes to maintaining their cultural connection to the cod and the ocean. This is a second chance in a world that is rapidly running out of second chances. I hope we know what to do with it.
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