# Cod fishery closing?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cod-fishery-closing/607746>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [December 29, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cod-fishery-closing/607746 "2011-12-29T18:59:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cod-fishery-closing/607746/1 "2011-12-29T18:59:35Z")

</div>

What’s the SD on the cod stocks? First NMFS says they are ok and then they say they are on the brink of collapse. The fishermen say the fishing is the best in recent memory and that one of the studies has to be wrong. Why can’t it be the pessimistic one?

Presumably, the scientists don’t have a dog in the fight.(I know, bad presumption.) They are there to be scientific - just the facts, ma’am. I’ve always had a slanted view against commercial fishing, thinking that humans will use up any natural resource until its gone. The big ocean theory doesn’t work. Look at the shark populations (estimated down 90% from less than 100? years ago) The rarer it gets, the more its worth. Some whales were hunted almost to extinction. Bluefin tuna are on their way out. The argument is that closing the fishery will have a devastating economic impact. What will the impact be if the cod population collapses? The fisherman say the stocks are fine but where is their evidence other than “fishing’s been good” anecdotes? Can fishermen be trusted to self-regulate? Can they really be saying that the scientists are biased but the fisherman aren’t?

Come on fishermen. Let me have it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2011, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cod-fishery-closing/607746/2 "2011-12-29T20:04:10Z")

</div>

Do you have any cites? There are real problems in the fishing industry, and some political and economic problems too. There are also current concerns about the changing ecology due to overfishing, arctic meltdown, pollution etc. that indicate a problem known to be coming, but not yet evident.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2011, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cod-fishery-closing/607746/3 "2011-12-29T20:50:26Z")

</div>

I don’t have a lot of time to put detail into this response, but I’m going to assume you mean Atlantic Cod, and that this website may be helpful:

[http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/fishwatch/species/atlantic\_cod.htm](http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/fishwatch/species/atlantic_cod.htm)

Hope the resources there at least partially answer your question.