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Fisheries:
The Cod |
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The Atlantic Cod, Gadus morhua, has long been the North Atlantic’s most important food fish. Pursuit of cod may have led Europeans to visit North America, before Columbus. Cod is good to eat, simple to prepare, and easy to preserve without refrigeration.
Most cod caught today weigh only about five pounds, but a hundred fifty years ago they routinely weighed 25 to 35 pounds. Some have been caught weighing 100 to 200 pounds.
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Unlike other fish, cod meat salts and dries well and can be preserved for a long time. When soaked in fresh water it reconstitutes with good flavor and texture. It is a high-protein, low-oil food. These desirable characteristics, along with the Catholic Church’s rule against eating meat on Fridays, made cod popular in European markets.
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Cod live near the bottom of the ocean, but not in extremely deep water. They prefer the banks, or shallow parts of the continental shelf, where the water is 20 to 70 fathoms deep. Cod like a rocky or sandy, rather than a muddy bottom, and a water temperature of 40 to 50 degrees F. Cod’s preference for cold water accounts for their large concentrations from Cape Cod to Newfoundland.
Cod come in closer to shore to spawn. Penobscot Bay and Frenchman’s Bay had huge cod populations in the past.
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