Rebecca Schijns is a Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada-based fisheries scientist at Oceana Canada. She has an academic background in biology, as well as oceans and fisheries studies. In her current role, she provides research on fisheries and marine conservation issues to inform and support the goals of Oceana Canada’s core campaigns.
In a recent SeafoodSource article, stakeholders in Canada’s Northern cod fishery expressed optimism about the restoration of the stock and celebrated the fishery’s reopening in 2024.
However, the optimism represents a premature and misleading portrayal of the stock’s health, according to Oceana Canada analysis.
While catch rates and product quality may appear strong on the surface, these snapshots of commercial performance cannot replace the broader picture provided by rigorous scientific assessment. In reality, according to an assessment from Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), Northern cod remains in a depleted state, and rebuilding has stalled since 2017. DFO projects a 56 percent to 71 percent probability of further decline over the next three years, even under current catch levels, heightening the risk of returning to the “critical zone” – the level, according to longstanding fisheries policy, that DFO must avoid in order to prevent serious harm to the stock.
Cod stocks total just a fraction of their former abundance, with spawning stock biomass since 2017 ranging between 300,000 and 600,000 metric tons (MT) – well below the average between 1954 and 1970 of over 1.1 million MT and a fraction of the estimated 2.3 million MT of virgin spawning biomass. Alarmingly, indicators such as low productivity, a contracted age structure, and the scarcity of capelin – cod’s primary prey – continue to impede recovery.
These issues are not being adequately addressed.
Cod scientists, provincial leaders, and inshore harvesters have all raised serious concerns. Additionally, last year, the Fish, Food, and Allied Workers Union initiated legal action to overturn the decision to open the commercial fishery.
These are not signs of a well-managed or widely supported fishery.
Without a robust management plan – which contains clear timelines and targets for high levels of biomass and productivity – increasing or maintaining high fishing quotas violates Canada’s legal obligations under its Fisheries Act to rebuild depleted stocks and international commitments to manage sustainable fisheries. It also undermines DFO’s own Precautionary Approach policy, based on global best practices.
Northern cod still has the potential to become a world-class example of recovery, supporting thousands of sustainable jobs and bringing long-term economic benefits to the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. This will only happen if management puts ecological limits and community values ahead of premature industrial expansion.
Canada must choose a path that restores abundance, protects coastal livelihoods, and ensures decisions are guided by science – not short-term market pressure. Anything less puts the Northern cod fishery – and the communities who depend on it – at risk again.
