Collapse of the Atlantic northwest cod fishery

In 1992, Northern Cod populations fell to 1% of historical levels, due in large part to decades of overfishing.^[3] The Canadian Federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, John Crosbie, declared a moratorium on the Northern Cod fishery, which for the preceding 500 years had primarily shaped the lives and communities of Canada's eastern coast.^[4] A significant factor contributing to the depletion of the cod stocks off Newfoundland's shores was the introduction of equipment and technology that increased landed fish volume.^[5] From the 1950s onwards, new technology allowed fishers to trawl a larger area, fish more in-depth, and for a longer time, with the catches peaking in the 1970s and 1980s.^[4] Cod stocks were depleted at a faster rate than could be replenished.^[4]

The trawlers also caught enormous amounts of non-commercial fish, which were economically unimportant but very important ecologically. This incidental catch undermined the stability of the ecosystem by depleting stocks of important predator and prey species.