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The collapse of Baltic cod

A Baltic catch in 1987. The photo above was taken in March 1987 during a three week research expedition in the Baltic, carried out by the Danish research vessel R/V DANA. One of the researchers on board was Ph.D. Eero Aro – the man you see in the photo hugging a 22 kg large female cod caught in the Southern part of the Baltic in the Polish fishing grounds Slupsk Furrow.

“Our total catch of Baltic cod as displayed in this photo was around 7000 kg caught in just 20 minutes and counted more than 100 individuals of 20 kg or above. This lady in my arms weighted 22 kg. The even bigger lady in the foreground of the photo had a total weight of 36 kg”, explains Eero Aro, who is now retired.

In contrast, during 2016-2019, other researchers tagged 20 000 Baltic cod in Swedish, Danish, German and Polish waters to learn more about their growth and mortality. In 2016 and 2017 the researchers found almost no cod larger than 50 cm.

Read the full background story at FishSec.org

Topics

  • Agriculture, fishing

Categories

  • postkodstiftelsen
  • baltic
  • common fisheries policy
  • cod
  • return of the cod
  • fiske
  • baltic sea
  • cfp
  • eu
  • fisheries
  • baltic cod
  • overfishing

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