3 ms·
Probably a dumb question but why hasn't cod rebound on the east coast? The fishing moratorium has been in place for decades now, shouldn't the population have i
by morkalork 3y ago
Probably a dumb question but why hasn't cod rebound on the east coast? The fishing moratorium has been in place for decades now, shouldn't the population have increased exponentially since then?
- alecthomas 3y agoThis paper [1] (PDF) indicates it is likely a complex interaction between multiple parts of the ecosystem. One example is that large cod are apex predators, competing with seals and when those cod were removed, seal populations increased, and predation on small cod increased correspondingly. [1] https://oceansfirstjournal.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/oceansfirst_05_steele.pdf https://oceansfirstjournal.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/ocean...
- morkalork 3y agoThanks, that was surprisingly interesting. It also talks about capelin the sibling comment mentioned.
- bryanlarsen 3y agoMany blame overfishing of capelin, the main cod foodstock.
- pvaldes 3y agoTo speak in simple terms: Cods were let go. The dynamics of the team changed. Ecosystem hired lobsters to fill the gap. Cods will not return because the former positions aren't available anymore.