Managed Annihilation: An Unnatural History of the Newfoundland Cod Collapse (Nature | History | Society)

The commercial cod fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador was once themost successful in the world. When it collapsed in 1992 -- causingthe largest single-day layoff in Canadian history and irrevocableecological damage -- fishermen, scholars, and scientists pointedto failures in management such as uncontrolled harvesting and nottaking fishermen's concerns into account as likely culprits. Examining the history of commercial cod fisheries in Newfoundlandand Labrador from the mid-nineteenth century to the aftermath of thecod moratorium, "Managed Annihilation" makes the case that theidea of natural resource management was itself the problem. Thecollapse occurred when the fisheries were ostensibly managed by thestate, and the fishery has still not recovered nearly twenty yearslater. Although the collapse of northern cod raised doubts amongpolicy-makers about their ability to understand, predict, and controlnature, their ultimate goal of control through management has notwavered -- it has simply been transferred from wild fish tofishermen and domesticated cod.