The cod delusion

The arrival of Captain Alex Saunders’ longliner in Pinsent’s Arm begins a symphony at the fishing wharf in the southern Labrador community. The motor emits a bassline hum as the captain manoeuvres the boat alongside the dock. Pleasantries pass like melody between the half-dozen crew members and handful of dockside staff, punctuated by the piercing calls of seagulls hovering over the fish hold. Down below, some 2,700 kilograms of northern cod are the inspiration for today’s performance, and the fish are about to take centre stage.

Two men tie the boat onto the cleat hitch, while another few affix the winch to the fish tubs. The thrum of the winch hoisting the cod-packed tubs to the wharf picks up where the motor, now cut, left off. On the wharf, the thud of fish tubs landing on the weigh scale breaks up the crunch and scrape of a shovel digging and spreading crushed ice. Then comes the sloshing as two men pour smaller fish tubs into larger ones. To complete today’s set, a forklift whirs and beeps the filled tubs to the back of the wharf for transport to a processing plant down the coast.

Days like this on wharves like this are the lifeblood of places like Pinsent’s Arm, a fishing community of about 50 residents. And yet, days like this — as hopeful as this one appears — may be numbered. That’s because Atlantic cod (of which northern cod is one stock) is nowhere near its one-time level of abundance. Thirty years ago, in a last-ditch effort to bring cod back from the brink of total collapse, the Canadian government closed the commercial cod fishery.

Meant to last two years, the cod moratorium remains in effect, although the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada reopened an inshore commercial fishery called the “stewardship fishery” in 2006. Three decades on, the latest DFO science still puts Atlantic cod in the critical zone.

Dead or alive: A dive into the landing ban on endangered shortfin mako sharks
Built for speed with a body shaped like a bullet, the shortfin mako shark is the fastest shark in the ocean — and a well-known apex predator. Often seen jumping to extreme heights and reaching speeds of 74 kilometres per hour, this incredible shark can be found throughout the northern Atlantic Ocean, including off Canada’s east coast. But despite being top of the oceanic food chain, they can’t out-swim the grasp of fishnets.