Cod Found Once Again in Cold Ocean Waters off New York Harbor
Over the last several years, one fish in particular has been making a slow, but steady comeback in the offshore environment of the northwestern North Atlantic. It was a fish that was so plentiful at one time that it filled the cold waters of New England’s rocky coastline, so much so that early Europeans named a large peninsula in Massachusetts after the fish. Cod, as declared by both the Boston Globe and the New Scientist, are making a comeback, after decades of strict government regulations. Last year, the Boston Globe wrote that the Canadian fishing authorities released a report in spring 2016 suggesting “cod are finally making a comeback….The report found that the adult population of northern cod had more than doubled in size over the past three years, and it estimates that the spawning stock will double again within the next three years — bringing it two-thirds of the way back to a healthy fishery.” It’s not just in New England and Canada either. Nearby recreational fisherman out of New York City and along Long Island to Montauk and down the Jersey Shore to Point Pleasant for the last several years have been finding more cod while angling out in the ocean during winter or early spring cod fishing trips. Read the article here 08:46
A “wishful thinking” blog story which would make those in the for-hire industry question if he interviewed anyone involved in this fishery. I doubt he would be so “optimistic” after hearing from those who have been targeting the winter king over the past quarter of a century. Localized “scattered pockets” of smaller cod would be a more accurate description, and the norm off the south shore of Long Island at this time.
I took it with a grain of salt. Some of it I find intriguing, like the cod “recovery” in Canada. I’ve always felt since I started reading about it, and the “collapse” of GOM stocks, that they were migrating north. The last thing our Canadian friends want is the cod to kill off the crab, shrimp fishery’s. It looks very bleak for those people at the moment.