12 quotes
All revolutions are to some degree about money.
Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World (1997)
If ever there was a fish made to endure, it is the Atlantic cod—the common fish. But it has among its predators man, an openmouthed species greedier than cod.
Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World (1997)
Politics and nationalism often play far greater roles than conservation in the decision-making process.
Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World (1997)
To a cod, ocean floors mean safety. That is why they were rendered commercially extinct by bottom draggers.
Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World (1997)
It is harder to kill off fish than mammals. But after 1,000 years of hunting the Atlantic cod, we know that it can be done.
Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World (1997)
As long as fisherman can catch a fish, they resist the idea that the species is in trouble. But with cod, they all recognize that there is a problem.
Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World (1997)
In trade, it is an almost infallible natural law that a hungry low-end market, an eager dumping ground for the shoddiest work, is an irresistible market force.
Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World (1997)
The 200-mile limit was not seen in Canada, the United States, or anywhere else as a conservation measure, but rather as a protectionist measure for the national fisheries.
Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World (1997)
Whatever steps are taken, one of the great obstacles to restoring cod stocks off of Newfoundland is an almost pathological collective denial of what has happened. Newfoundlanders seem prepared to believe anything other than that they have killed off nature’s bounty.
Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World (1997)
Canadian cod was not yet biologically extinct, but it was commercially extinct—so rare that it could no longer be considered commercially viable. Just three years short of the 500-year anniversary of the reports of Cabot’s men scooping up cod in baskets, it was over. Fishermen had caught them all.
Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World (1997)
Commercially successful fish farms reduce operating costs by feeding pellets of pressed fish meal rather than wild bait fish. In the case of salmon they are also fit artificial coloring to give them the pink tin to the acquire in the wild from eating crustaceans. Gastronomically, a wild salmon and a farmed salmon have as much in common as a side of wild boar has with pork chops.
Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World (1997)
The American Revolution was the first great anticolonialist movement. It was about political freedom. But in the minds of its most hard-line revolutionaries, the New England radicals, the central expression of that freedom was the ability to make their own decisions about their own economy.
Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World (1997)