Procedure:
- Take a trip to Fisheries and Oceans Canada, they are managing agency for Canadian Commercial Fisheries. The link above will take you to a data center where you can access historical catch data.
- In another window, open up a google spreadsheet. Set up a spreadsheet with three columns. One column will be year (1990-2018), the next will be total Canadian Catch for Atlantic Cod, the third will be value (in thousands of Canadian dollars.)
- Back on the Fisheries and Oceans Canada webpage select 1990 under “Atlantic Regions Quantities, and copy (ctrl C) the “Atlantic Total” “Cod.” Paste it into your spreadsheet and repeat for every year available until 2018.
- Back on the Fisheries and Oceans Canada webpage select 1990 under “Atlantic Regions Values, and copy (ctrl C) the “Atlantic Total” “Cod.” Paste it into your spreadsheet and repeat for every year available until 2018.
- Create a graph for the data gathered in question 4 by looking in the insert menu, selecting chart. When you set up your chart use a bar graph and be sure to use your first column A as labels. Also be sure that your two data colors of bars are labeled. Be sure to share this back with your teacher when you’re finished.
Graph: Paste a screenshot of your graph or share it with your teacher in google docs.
Analysis:
- Describe what has happened to the total catch of Atlantic Cod from 1990 to 2018.
- Describe what has happened to the total value of the Atlantic Cod Atlantic Cod from 1990 to 2018.
- What impact do you suppose this has had on the fishing communities of Eastern Canadian and New England Read the attached article from the Boston Globe to learn more.
- Examine the graph of Atlantic Cod Catches from 1950. What do you notice about catches prior to 1990? What factors may have lead to the sharp decline of cod in the 1990?s.? (If the graph does not open, copy and paste this link into a new browser tab: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Time_series_for_collapse_of_Atlantic_northwest_cod.png)
- Most of the cod in Canada was historically caught by bottom trawling. Read the attached article and explain why this history and the methods used to catch Atlantic Cod may have destroyed the now closed cod fishery and a chance to recover.
- The Alaskan Cod Fishery was considered a model of a well managed sustainable fishery. But in the last few years, something has happened, and the fishery has collapsed. Go check out this NPR Story and tell me what scientists think had lead to the crash of Alaska’s Cod Fishery?
