Early History of Cod

Humans have sought after cod since medeival times. Record show that Early Basque and Nordic colonies in the 500's and 600's were the first to preserve cod through drying or salting. Thanks to these methods of preservation explorers were able to travel longer and farther distances on their voyages because of their ability to store food without spoiling. It was this breakthrough that directly led to the discovery of Greenland in the 870's, and Iceland and the North American continent near the year 1000.

In 1492 Christopher Columbus made his fateful voyage and "discovered" North America while searching for a sea route to Asia. Five years later in 1497 Giovanni Caboto, a Genovese otherwise known by his English name John Cabot, set out to find the route to Asia that Christopher Columbus missed. Running into a rocky shoreline "ideal for salting and drying fish" Cabot named this place New Found Land and claimed it for England.[9]

This Newfoundland soon became a major base in the cod fishery. By 1508, 10% of fish sold in Portuguese ports was Newfoundland salt cod.[10] Only 42 years later nearly 60% of all of the fish eaten in Europe was cod caught off New England and Newfoundland.[11] This surge in cod in the European markets enticed fishers from France, England, Spain and Portugal to brave the Atlantic crossing for a stake in this seemingly endless fishery. Englishman Bartholomew Gosnold was one of those. In 1602 he "discovered" New Virginia (what is now known as Maine) and also "discovered" a place he called Pallavisino, now known as Cape Cod, where he was constantly "pestered by cod."[12]

In the late 1600's a "triangle-trade" developed between New England, Africa and the West Indies. New Englanders traded salted, dried cod to Africa for slaves that were then be brought to plantations in the West Indies, where they would be traded for molasses, wine, sugar, salt, rum, and tobacco which was then brought back to New England.

As the fishery began to grow back in the Gulf of Maine, improvements in technology were allowing fishers to catch larger numbers of cod. Faster ships, dubbed "Gloucester Schooners" were first built and launched from Gloucester, Massachusetts in 1713.[13] Soon, however, confrontations with England erupted into the Revolutionary War. During this time fishers took to war in their ships to feed their families. [14]

After the war ended the New England cod fishery saw further incredible strides in technological advances. In the 1780's fishers began to switch from single baited hooks to using traps. However as the water got colder in the fall the cod moved into deeper water where fishers found it was harder to trap them. Handlines were soon discovered to be the most effective method of fishing during this time of year, and as fishers found out, during the entire year as well. However finding bait soon became a problem. Eventually fishers resorted to using fish entrails to catch sea birds to use for bait. Fishers using birds as bait for cod hunted the great auk, North America's only flightless bird, to extinction in the 1840's.[15]

Schooners changed in the early 1800s with the advent of the "live-well"- a hold in the ship with continuously flowing seawater to allow the cod to be kept alive until the ship returns to port. In addition, for the first time ice was used to keep fish fresh.

Fishers soon learned that they could catch more fish using small dories launched from the schooners. The schooners would sail to the fishing grounds and fishers would take to fishing in small, two-man boats. Despite the fact that dory fishing became very productive, it was also very dangerous. Their small size allowed them to become swamped easier and often times in fog they could not find their way back to the schooner and were lost. Gloucester, Massachusetts had a population of only roughly 15,000 from 1830 to 1900; during these 70 years the port lost 3,800 of its fishers.[16]

In the mid-1800s handlines soon gave way to longlines which almost immediately were rendered obsolete by gillnets, a new innovation catching an even larger number of fish and not requiring the use (or cost) of bait.

The introduction of steam trawlers in 1906 allowed for longer and therefore more productive fishing trips. With this jump in technology it wasn't long before someone realized that a gillnet towed by a boat caught more fish than stationary gill nets. Hence came the trawl.

Cod were soon being cleaned and salted at sea. Carrier ships made trips from the harbors to the fishing grounds to bring in the catch, allowing the trawlers to remain at sea for weeks on end. In 1921 filleting machinery was introduced to New England, making the processing of cod more efficient. The first trans-continental railroad was constructed in 1870 and by now was transporting fresh cod throughout the United States.

In the 1950s "rock hoppers" replaced rollers on otter trawls, allowing for nets to be dragged over virtually any bottom structure. Up until this point fishers could only drag over bottom that would not tear their nets. Arguably the most significant contribution the 1950s had to offer to the cod fishery (and all fisheries in general) was sonar. Previously used only for war purposes, sonar or "fish finders" now became commonplace on fishing trawlers, allowing fishers to track entire schools and concentrate their effort on areas that they could physically observe holding cod.

www.biology.ucsc.edu/ug/courses/bio163/fish3.pdf

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