The Big Picture  Ruth Wawin  GGS-12  Mrs.Aliphat

Introduction  As time progresses so does technology, it seems everything is becoming more advanced, larger, and more productive. This advancement in technology has negatively impacted a small Newfoundland community and resulted in the closure of a northern Newfoundland cod fishery which terminated many jobs, and an important source of income for a small community.

Economic Development  One of the main reasons for the closure of this cod fishery was a result of economic development. The economic development that occurred in the situation would be defined as industrial development. Much like technology around the world, fishing technology has advanced, thus resulting in the biggest and strongest culprits and draggers available. These boats haul large nets along the seabed looking for large fish that tend to stay near the bottom of the ocean, one of the types being codfish. The advancement in this technology has made it very hard for the codfish population. They became scarce because codfish were fished in such large quantities as well as being fished during breeding, not giving them sufficient chance to reproduce.

 This dragger is a little smaller than the average size.

Environment –Fisherman are only now, realizing that something must be done in order to protect the stocks of codfish in the future, however it may have be a realization that has come too late to save the jobs of many fisherman. There has been more talk of conservation among the fisherman than of the traditional talk of profit by exploiting codfish stocks. Fisherman down south wanted the cod fishery to shut down during breeding season to conserve the codfish stocks. This is an example that shows fisherman are becoming more aware of the codfish’s natural environment and what must be done in order for them to make a full recovery. –As a result of the decrease in stock both environmentalists and fisherman have coming together to conceive a way to protect the stock of codfish. Environmentalists have created a program to survey and use inshore fisherman’s knowledge and experience about the cod stocks to help them recover as well as how to prevent future problems that may effect their population.

Effected People *The people who were most affected by the closing of the cod fishery were the fisherman. Between 30,000 and 40,000 people tied to the cod fishery lost their jobs. *The fishery was the main source of income for it’s community, and its loss was very hard for the people of the community to deal with. *One of the good things that has come from the loss of the cod fishery is that most fisherman now know more about the codfish, it’s natural environment, and how it can me preserved.

Conclusion  I think that this problem could have easily been avoided. Fisherman wanted large amounts of cod fish because they wanted a large profit. This entire situation is driven by greed which seems to be the driving force behind most people’s actions. Quotas were not put in place to control the amount of codfish fished by each boat therefore each boat could gather as much fish as it desired, and large draggers made this possible. If the fisherman would have thought ahead they may have been able to gather more fish in the long run opposed to fishing up almost the entire stock of codfish at once. However plans are now in place to help the codfish stock in Newfoundland recover, and if it does hopefully quotas will be put in place and the fisherman will respect them because it will benefit them in the long run.

Sources  Images:  dragger.jpg dragger.jpg dragger.jpg   o04/04pics/fisherman.jpg&imgrefurl= 4/photo04.htm&h=402&w=600&sz=142&tbnid=m106GOaD7xWr0M:&tbnh=89 &tbnw=133&hl=en&start=1&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfisherman%26svnum%3D 10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG  Article 