October 1, 2013 — In a keynote speech at the 2013 World Seafood Congress Tuesday morning, George Rose, the fisheries conservation chair at the Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland, swiftly walked through some of the history of the Grand Banks fishing grounds and the collapse of the cod stocks off Newfoundland and Labrador.
He also spoke about some findings of study from the last 20 years, including the fact climate change is affecting offshore ecosystems.
Rose told the approximately 250 conference delegates the collapse of cod stocks, and the moratorium, was mainly due to overfishing.
However, looking ahead — whether the subject is cod, caplin, lobster, crab, shrimp or any other species — determining what amounts to a sustainable fishery is about gathering the information that will provide the best, most detailed understanding of the ever-changing situation within offshore ecosystems.
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