Falling Away from the Cod

It used to be that Cod was in our DNA.

Not anymore.

The 1992 Cod bomb blew away nearly every last strand of the fish DNA in our collective body.

Not only did that seismic catastrophe  drained us of 80,000 of our kinfolk, we lost their offspring born on the mainland; and likely now, that 24 years have passed, we can count the loss of their grandkids.

The children born in NL after 1992 fared no better. They no longer have an affinity for anything related to the fishery. They are the first Codless generation since Commander Cabot came unto our shores back in 1497.

If anyone doubts that the fall-out from the Cod bomb has stabilised, one only has to read the CBC articles this week by Terry Roberts  of the demographic crisis unfolding on the Great Northern Pennisula.   The population is expected to decline by 40 percent in 20 years.

The youth, faced with no job prospects - and worst yet - no hope, have their suitcases already packed ready to leap from what was once the Isle of the Cod to another Codless world.  

We are indeed falling away from the Cod.

And when we say Cod we mean more than fish.

Cod is an icon of all that is NL. It is our culture, our language, our settlement patterns, our psyche  - or it once was. It defined us like no other force in our lives.  It was our reason to be, our currency even.

The truth is that even the kids that remain are not just not fishing – they are no longer getting in boats. That is a profound shift in our evolution as a people and a place.

Kimberly Orren of Fishing for Success is a non-profit shining a bright light in Petty Harbour. She and her partners are on a mission to stop the tidal wave sweeping our culture where we are no longer people of the sea, where our children do know the rise of the ocean swell or taste the brine on their lips. They are not just being visionary, but proactive in their efforts to rework the Cod DNA back into our collective form.

Generally, you need a reason to get in a boat...you don't just wander around.  So, if we don't make an effort to get our kids fishing, they won't be near the water, on the water, or in boats.

Orren relays a story when  she was at the Marine Institute obtaining her fishing license, of a Capt Parsons who developed the marine management program.  He made the point of remarking that his students USED to be Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. But now they are mostly mainlanders.  He says our kids are not growing up with their butts in a punt anymore. So a career on the water, not even on their radar - and I'm not even talking about fishing - I'm just talking about marine management.

We have a real serious problem, Commander Cabot.  

If you google the word Cod, the odds are that you will get reams of websites related to a popular virtual war game called “Call of Duty.” And as Orren laments, that's the kind of COD our youth will  be celebrating!

Orren believes that we need to broaden our definition of fishing to engage more youth.    Is NL trying to position itself to be the gate to the Arctic? With whom? Why aren't we preparing our kids for this future? 

Fishing for Success  went looking for a Youth Cod Quota this year to get kids and tourists out on the water, catching fish, bringing it back to the wharf, preparing, cooking and serving it to the community.  Yes, a bunch of entrepreneurial youth down at the wharf again! Just like old times!  Good stuff right?

DFO would have none of that progressive thinking and action-oriented solutions to our beleaguered fishery and communities.   They are now keepers of the Cod DNA and their golden rule is that it shall never be passed onto future generations.  The request for a Youth quota was not granted.

No wonder we are falling away from the Cod…

Fishing for Success are doing their darnest to be innovative and sustainable in their Cod quest.  They contacted the Centre for new Immigrants to invite their folks to Island Rooms in Petty Harbour to learn about NL culture, go fishing and share some fish. The response, according to Orren:   He almost started crying ... He said he had been in NL for 10 years and no one had offered to do that for his clients! Leo and I used our own personal fish we had put up for winter for the fish stew. If we had a licence...

The Cod Bomb may have done its damage some 25 years ago and the fall-out is still immensely hurting our economy and culture,  but groups like Fishing for Success proves there is still hope of re-injecting the Cod DNA back into our veins. 

This non-profit is trying to create a stronger synergy between the fishery and tourism as an anti-dote to the unfamiliar and jarring feeling of a 500-year-old fishing nation falling away from its life source - the Cod.

Let’s hope they succeed for the sake of us all and our future.

It is a shortsighted society that forgets its past  and in the case of NL, the fishery is the light forward.