Word: fishly
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...anymore. After providing nearly five centuries of uninterrupted bounty, the Grand Banks have suddenly run low on fish: northern cod populations have plummeted 95% in just a few years. Faced with the destruction of an irreplaceable resource, the Canadian government has done the unthinkable: prohibited all cod fishing indefinitely, and probably until the end of the century. Says Nurse, one of 27,000 fishermen thrown out of work by the ban: "Fishing is over for my lifetime. The question is, Will it ever come back...
That question is being asked all over the globe -- almost everywhere that fishermen ply the seas. Many of the most popular fish on the world's seafood menu are becoming harder and harder to catch as their populations collapse under the relentless assault of modern fishing fleets. Haddock, cod and flounder are so scarce off Cape Cod that a large part of America's oldest fishing area is now off limits. Populations of Atlantic bluefin tuna of breeding age have dropped 90% since 1975, and Pacific stocks are starting to fall as well. Orange roughy from the waters...
Worldwide, says the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, 13 of 17 major ocean fisheries are in trouble. The annual marine-fish catch, having peaked at 86 million metric tons in 1989, dipped to 82.5 million tons by 1992. That's why representatives of 100 nations are now assembled at U.N. headquarters in New York City in the second of a series of meetings. The delegates are trying for the first time to put international controls on fishing for commercially valuable species...
...fish deficit has had little impact on consumers. The prices of some scarce varieties, such as bluefin tuna, have jumped, but in other cases long-distance fleets have traveled to alternative fishing areas, often in the southern hemisphere. In addition, fish suppliers are selling more of species not popular in the past, including dogfish and whiting. Most important, seafood manufacturers are making up for the ocean-fish shortage through aquiculture, the use of fish farms. Large populations of everything from sole to scallops are raised in big tanks or cages near the shore...
None of this is any consolation to the many traditional fishing communities that are suffering. The anguish runs deep in New England, for example, where fishermen are upset about new restrictions on the size of their catch. Earlier this month a procession of fishing boats staged a demonstration in Boston Harbor, and a group of 20 outraged workers protested in Gloucester, Massachusetts, turning over cars and dumping fish off a truck. Massachusetts Governor William Weld promised $10 million in aid to fishing towns and called for federal help. That came last week, when the Clinton Administration announced a $30 million...