In the 1990s, a single moratorium announcement wiped out an entire industry, leaving 37,000 people unemployed overnight. The ecological collapse of the Canadian Grand Banks Cod Fisheries is the most famous historical example of a collapse in fish stocks due to overfishing. Not only were cod stocks severely depleted, it was the largest layoff of workers in one day, and the biggest ever industrial layoff in Canada’s history: fishing fleets, processing plants, associated support businesses were all impacted when the moratorium was declared. It devastated coastal communities in Newfoundland and Labrador and led to significant migration, changing some of those communities forever. Five years ago this month, the Central Arctic Ocean Fisheries Agreement (CAOFA) was signed by Arctic Coastal States, in an example of unprecedented international collaboration based upon the precautionary principle, which put in place a moratorium on fishing in the CAO until 2037, thereby protecting Arctic Ocean species from commercial exploitation as the sea ice retreats. In effect, this moratorium establishes a temporary marine reserve for fish populations that are increasingly moving north as waters warm. This is Arctic exceptionalism in practice, a recognition that the CAO can be, as often heralded, a common heritage of humankind, a unique global inheritance that must be protected and preserved through an Arctic Treaty System, providing in practice a North Pole Marine Reserve. Why think about this now? This year, the moratorium on cod fishing on the Grand Banks was lifted. Thirty-two years on – and in the teeth of opposition…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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