I have long held up Kurlansky’s previous book, Salt: A World History as one of several essential reference books for any writer wanting to build a solid understanding of history, economics, and politics into their writing. I’m happy to say that I can add Cod to that stack as well, and toss “understanding ecosystems” into the mix of benefits.
The tale goes something like this: once, there were enough cod in the North Atlantic to drop a basket overboard and haul it up full of whopping big fish. The economies of several countries and the fortunes of many were built on this abundance: but fast forward to the days of net trawling, and even a fish that lays millions of eggs in one spawning ends up commercially extinct, leaving those economies in ruins and successful fishermen scrabbling desperately for jobs.
Kurlansky’s style, peppered with relevant quotes from across history, is readable, humorous, and hooks the reader in as surely as . . . well, like a skilled fisherman handlining a cod, which is one of several fishing methods, issues, and arguments covered in this book. From the first line: “These are the fishermen who . . . went to sea but forgot their pencil”, Kurlansky tosses you overboard into a vividly described world of men and women around the world fighting nature, governments, and in some cases each other.
The author went to Newfoundland to get a first hand experience of what life—and fishing—are like there now, and paints an undeniably bleak picture of what mankind without restraint can do to delicate ecological balances. He moves back and forth between historical and modern times, giving a thorough background (and recipes) to put the modern facts in perspective. But Newfoundland serves as a home ground for the tale; over and over, the view returns to the men and women struggling to deal with the collapse of their entire way of life.
As a confirmation of Kurlansky’s research, the Newfoundland government web site offers the following statement, in a 1997 speech by Premier Brian Tobin:
None of the forty or fifty thousand people in this Province who depended upon cod are fishing cod today. None of the nations of the world that traditionally fish inside our two hundred mile limit for cod are fishing cod today. . . . Ninety-nine percent of the total spawning biomass that was there prior to the collapse of 1992 is still missing. There hasn’t been substantial recovery.
Today, the matter of cod in Newfoundland is still being hotly debated; some say the cod stocks are improving significantly, while others believe such statements to be solely aimed at allowing commercial fishing to take over the area again. It’s conservation against big business, a scenario that doesn’t seem to have changed much since Kurlansky’s book first came out, so it’s still a timely book.
It’s also a pretty grim situation, and Kurlansky’s book offers no hope nor a solution. Except, perhaps, that the more aware and educated people are, the more likely we will be to avoid similar catastrophes in the future; and that’s always a goal worth striving for.
The government web site, with Tobin’s speech, is here.
Mark Kurlansky’s web site lists his numerous awards and his other published books, as well as articles he has written for multiple magazines and newspapers.
(Penguin Books, 1998)
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