Cod on the decline
 

Here's an article in the Metrowest Daily News today. Read it and weep :crying:
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/lo...ticleid=106395

Not to difficult to figure out that if you let the doggies run wild they eat everything, including young cod.

There was the same article in the Springfield paper today.

I'm thinking regulations were too little, too late, and THAT's why the cod continue to decrease in number. I forget the technical name for it, but I've graduated and it's summer, I'm allowed. Anyways, when population numbers get too low, fish can sometimes not find suitable mates, or even any mates at all. There is a point from which a population cannot bounce back, even though all of the members of that species are not dead yet. Below a critical number, birth rate simply cannot exceed death rate. Tell me y'all didn't see this coming from a nautical mile away.

I think maybe BassBabe is over-reacting. Obviously more stringent regulations are needed ASAP, and on a comercial scale. I would also agree that the rise of the golden dogfish is not helping at all.Man has always had a knack at destroying what was blessed to him, hopefully we can rectify this!

Mail order cod brides are in the need I think :laugha:

Seriously though the news is not good. The haddock seem to be rebounding quite well, aren't they related to cod? Same habitat etc.

They are in the same family -- Gadidae -- and lead very similar, um, lifestyles, shall we say. One explanation for the rebound in haddock could be that they feed lower on the food chain than cod. They eat mostly small invertebrates, versus cod, who eat both invertebrates and fish. According to Daniel Pauly, we are "fishing down the food web", meaning that fishermen are taking the largest, most predatorial fish they can, and working their way down. This would, in theory, leave a better food supply for the haddock than for the cod, aiding in their success. Maybe cod are a little slow on the uptake and don't adapt to changes in prey availability as easily as stripers. That's just my guess, though.