c a n a d i a n a t l a n t i c f i s h e r i e s c o l l a p s e- kenyon（c n d我n t l n t我c f s h e r e s c o l l p s e -凯尼恩）（6页）.docVIP

CANADIAN ATLANTIC FISHERIES COLLAPSE In 1992, the devestating collapse of the cod stocks off the east coast of Newfoundland forced the Canadian government to take drastic measures and close the fishery. Over 40,000 people lost there jobs. The communities are still struggling to recover. The marine ecosystem is still in a state of collapse. The collapse of this vital and important fishery sounded a warning bell to governments around the world who were shocked that a relatively sophisticated, scientifically-based fisheries management program, not unlike their own, could have gone so wrong. The Canadian government had been warned by scientists and environmentalists that the cod stocks were overexploited and that there fleets were employing destructive fishing practices. The refused to significantly reduce quotas sighting the loss of jobs as too great a concern. The cost of their short term outlook and refusal to acknowledge ecological limits was devestating. THE STORY The ocean around the rocky shores of Newfoundland were once so full of cod that explorer John Cabot marveled in 1497 that they virtually blocked his ship. In the centuries to follow, fish became the one of the only reasons anyone ever came to Newfoundland, or stayed. Until the mid-twentieth century, Canadians had traditionally fished mainly in waters relatively closer to shore, in small craft using traditional techniques such as traps, jigging from a dory, or small inshore gill-nets, longlines or small trawlers. They joined fishing boats from Spain and Portugal whose crews had also traditionally fished in the northwest Atlantic since before Newfoundland was colonized. The most productive cod fishing area in the vast northwest Atlantic region was located off southern Labrador and to the east of Newfoundland where the highly productive population of northern cod had yielded an overall annual catch of about 250,000 tons for more than a century prior to the mid-1950s. INVASION OF THE DISTANT-WATER